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A Florida man has filed a $50 million class-action lawsuit against Netflix in relation to the streaming service's issues during the live broadcast of the boxing match between Boxing Hall of Famer and former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson loss to social media influencer Jake Paul last Friday (November 15).
Ronald 'Blue' Denton, of Hillsborough County, accused Netflix of beach of contract over frequent glitches that made the event unwatchable at times and is seeking damages of at least $50 million.
“60 million Americans were hyped to see ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, ‘The Baddest Man on the Planet’ versus Youtuber-turner-prizefighter Jake Paul. What they saw was ‘The Baddest Streaming on Planet,’” the lawsuit states via the New York Post.
“Netflix customers experienced massive streaming issues and should have known better because it’s happened before. They were woefully ill-prepared,” the lawsuit added.
The lawsuit claimed more than 100,000 people complained online, adding, “boxing fans, along with the average Americans wanting to see a legend in what would most likely be his last fight, were faced with legendary problems, including: no access, streaming glitches and buffering issues.”
Fans were livid by the fight itself, which many online deemed to be boring and a cash-grab, as well as Netflix's streaming issues throughout the night, with the service trending as many customers experienced buffering issues during the rest of the card, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
"Im in the classic torture chamber where I cant tell if my internet keeps going out or whether #Netflix is just constantly buffering and unwatchable for everybody," Portnoy wrote on his X account. "So the reports are in. #Netflix wasnt ready for this. This is unwatchable."
"Credit to Jake Paul + Mike Tyson for pulling off one of the great cons of century. I shoulda put 10 million on Jake. Not cause he's good but cause he fought a senior citizen. I would say everybody involved should be ashamed but I'd take the money it too if I could. #TysonPaul," Portnoy added in another post.
Paul, 27, scored 80-72, 79-73, 79-73, over Tyson, 58, whose last official match came in a loss to Kevin McBride in 2005, during the highly-anticipated event at AT&T Stadium. Tyson, 58, the youngest boxer to ever win a heavyweight title and one of the most dominant ever in the weight class, went 50-6-2 (44 KO) in 58 career professional fights prior to Friday's loss.