Why Jake Paul was key to ending decade-long wait for Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao 2

Paul fought Mike Tyson on Netflix in November of that year. The bout headlined an event that marked the platform’s very first time broadcasting live combat sports action.

While the matchup itself was controversial, it attracted an incredible amount of views — something that opened the door for Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao to finally run it back.

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Jake Paul’s Netflix viewership paved the way for Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao 2

According to Netflix, Paul vs. Tyson garnered an estimated average minute audience (AMA) of 108 million live viewers globally.

The groundbreaking numbers behind the streaming platform’s combat sports debut did not go unnoticed, and it was apparently key to ending the 10-year failure to book the rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao.

That was disclosed by Jas Mathur, the CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, during an interview with MMA Fighting.

Mathur described how the Netflix viewership for Paul’s clash with ‘Iron Mike’ and last September’s super-fight between Terence Crawford and Canelo Alvarez set up a rematch of the ‘Fight of the Century’

“The first fight was 11 years ago, so it’s really been in the works for the last 10 years from many different parties,” Mathur said. “A lot of people tried. It went in 50 different circles, 50 different directions.

“One of the biggest things I would say was the Netflix partnership and the opportunity to do it on Netflix. Just because Netflix is the No. 1 streaming platform. Today, we’re in a streaming world, post pay-per-view. They did the highest grossing boxing pay-per-view event of all time.

“So looking at the numbers, they see in the 21st century you’ve got Mike Tyson-Jake Paul and then you’ve got Canelo and Crawford that did amazing numbers,” he continued. “Tyson and Paul did 106 million views.

“So these guys are (like) look, if we can have Netflix as a partner, we can get into so many different homes, get access to a whole different audience… That’s what did it. That’s really what did it. It’s the fact that it’s on Netflix.”

Tyson Fury and Conor Benn to share a Netflix card on April 11

Mayweather and Pacquiao are certainly not the only ones enticed by the prospect of the sizable audience brought in by Netflix.

Tyson Fury’s latest boxing comeback will start on April 11 with a main event on Netflix. He will fight Russia’s Arslanbek Makhmudov at the Tottenham Stadium on a night when another major name is also set to return.

Days after news of Conor Benn’s $15 million deal with Zuffa Boxing emerged, it was revealed that the British star will co-headline Fury’s return.

Turki Alalshikh and Ring Magazine announced Thursday that the new Zuffa Boxing signing will fight Regis Prograis at the same venue where he beat Chris Eubank Jr. last November.