Anthony Joshua Vs. Jake Paul Shows Viewership Slippage As Netflix Hype Fades
Jake Paul met real boxing, and the Netflix numbers told the truth.
Friday night in Miami delivered a brutal reality check for Jake Paul.
The influencer has spent years trying to establish himself among boxing’s elite with little success, and while Anthony Joshua dismantled Paul’s jaw over six one-sided rounds, the Netflix viewership numbers took a bit of a hit.
Jake Paul fights Anthony Joshua in their heavyweight bout during Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua at Kaseya Center on December 19, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images for Netflix)
Netflix has now confirmed the damage. Paul versus Joshua averaged 33 million viewers globally. In a vacuum, that is a respectable figure for a streaming event.
In the context of Paul’s supposed trajectory, however, it signals a staggering brand regression.
Friday’s event represented a sharp decline from Paul’s fight against Mike Tyson, which drew 108 million viewers in November 2024.
READ: Jake Paul Reveals How Badly His Jaw Got Obliterated By Anthony Joshua
That earlier spectacle set a global benchmark with 65 million concurrent streams, driven by nostalgia and the morbid curiosity surrounding Paul’s overhyped exhibition model.
The most stinging realization for Team Paul is this: pure boxing is now outdrawing him on Netflix.
Jake Paul fights Anthony Joshua in their heavyweight bout during Jake Paul v Anthony Joshua at Kaseya Center on December 19, 2025 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images for Netflix)
Canelo Alvarez versus Terence Crawford, a fight built for purists, pulled 41.4 million viewers for the full card and 36.6 million for the main event last September.
The Tyson fight was lightning in a bottle for Paul’s PR team. It leaned heavily on nostalgia and the wild-card appeal of Paul.
Against a prime world champion like Anthony Joshua, that illusion evaporated. Fans watched Paul get overwhelmed by the larger, more experienced fighter and quickly lost interest in the Problem Child experiment.
The honeymoon phase between Jake Paul and Netflix may have just ended.
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