Thoughts on Tyson-Paul and why Netflix was the biggest loser

Corey Costelloe.

As someone who grew up watching professional boxing, and of course the likes of "Iron" Mike Tyson, I felt the need to weigh in on the events of Nov. 15, in which the former heavyweight champion came out of retirement at 58 years old to face a 27-year-old social media mogul and entrepreneur Jake Paul, who has fancied himself a fighter over the last several years.

I'll start by giving both men a ton of credit, as annoying as Paul is to so many traditional fight fans, he is getting eyes back on the sport that took a back seat to mixed martial arts in the last few decades. Boxing was once one of the most-popular sports in the world, today it's still there, but long gone are the fight cards that generated more interest than an election, the pay-per-views that made the world stop, and the reverence that comes with holding a world championship. For at least one evening, all eyes were on a sold-out AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

For Tyson, just to climb into the ring at 58 years old was incredible. While he lacked any offensive power in the fight, landing only 17 punches in the eight two-minute rounds, he made it through, just months after a health scare that nearly took his life. When you are training for anything in life, it's not the actual fight, event, race or competition that's the hard part, it's the months leading up to it that build the character. What Iron Mike lacks in performance ability, he's made up for in heart. Hats off to the former champ despite the unanimous decision defeat.

From a boxing perspective, yes, the Paul-Tyson fight was lackluster, but the undercard was spectacular. Paul managed through his connections with Most Valuable Promotions, to have the women's 145-pound title bout as the co-main event, securing what is believed to be the largest payday to female boxers to date. It was an amazing contest between champion Katie Taylor, once again defeating flyweight champion Amanda Serrano in a split decision rife with controversy from the judges and several head butts from the southpaw Taylor that opened a gash under Serrano's right eye brow that would make an MMA fighter cringe. Frankly the fight was stolen from Serrano, but what would boxing be without controversy from the judges? At least some things never change.

The fight prior ended in a split-decision-draw after two warriors of the welterweight division Abel Ramos and Mario Barrios slugged it out for 12 rounds. Ramos was a huge underdog and gave the champion Barrios more than he bargained for. A draw was certainly the right call, and both men, self-proclaimed "Mexican Warriors" in the ring, gave the fans a reason to hope for a rematch.

The biggest disappointment of the night was Netflix, the streaming giant making their first major foray into live sports production. Aside from the technical difficulties, which many endured due to the demand on the Netflix servers, the broadcast production was shoddy. Graphics were misplaced, timing was off, broadcast crews made very little sense and were forced to fill time far too often with very little to offer. While the lead blow-by-blow analyst Mauro Ranallo is no stranger to combat sports, his over-the-top style requires the right teammates to make it work. Unfortunately, actress Rosie Perez was not that, and while hall-of-fame fighter Roy Jones Jr. was an appropriate addition, Ranallo felt the urge to continue to argue with Jones as to why Tyson kept biting his gloves in the fight. Not to mention the times Ranallo was caught on a hot mic yelling obscenities at the production team when he thought he was off the air. Then there was the panel of hosts away from the ring that included Cedric "The Entertainer'"for some reason, and a few other B-list celebs that were more fixated on the crowd and "who" was in attendance and not the age-old boxing coverage that should include the "why" the combatants in the ring do what they do.

Then there were countless Netflix gaffes, including the locker room interview of Mike Tyson, that included a wide shot of Tyson walking away, in only his athletic supporter cup, his open backside broadcast for the world to see. It was a train wreck of a production to say the least. If Netflix believes that live sports are their future, they better step it up in terms of professionalism and production efficiency. Having spent the majority of my life in that business, the details bother me to no end. Netflix has a little over a month to fix it as they are scheduled to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day, if they fail at that, the Netflix live sport era is over before it really started.

While many of us Gen Xers and the Boomers before us hoped we could see one last Mike Tyson left uppercut followed by the deadly overhand right hook, it just wasn't to be. Father time remains undefeated and unfortunately, you really can't go home again. Nostalgia is an addictive drug, and we all wanted our fix on Nov. 15, but left with a yearning for the professionalism of fight cards past when analysts in tuxedos called the fights and the real story in the ring was played out on platforms like HBO, Showtime and the USA Network. If I were Netflix or Most Valuable Promotions, I would have been on the phone with predecessors who have done this stuff for years to make sure the sweet science was covered effectively and efficiently, none of that happened and it showed with a clunky broadcast hosted by inexperienced celebrities hired for their star power, and not their knowledge.

It was a good night for boxing in some cases, but it was packaged in a flimsy shiny paper that tainted the product. Boxing needs to figure out how to tell the story of what is still an amazing sport, without having to rely on sideshow gimmicks to get people to tune in. Between the outfits, the odd celebrity interviews, the lack of professionalism and the side show main event pitting an aged great against a rich kid with money and followers, it had a very poor "Hunger Games" vibe to it and the makings of an opening scene for the next futuristic dystopian film.

Netflix is in the movie business after all, but there is no chance a sequel to Nov. 15th's dystopian debacle brings anyone back until boxing is showcased in its true spectacular form and Netflix figures out that they have to tell a story, not just throw it on a computer server and hope for the best.

Corey Costelloe has covered NCAA, professional and local sports for more than 20 years as a reporter, broadcaster and athletics administrator. He advocates for the value of athletic competition and serves as the President of the Tehachapi Warriors Booster Club. He can be reached at [email protected].