Ariel Helwani blasts casual boxing fans claiming they were "conned" by Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson: "Spare me of your sanctimony."
Ariel Helwani has aimed at the critics of the recently concluded Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight. He particularly lambasted those who aren't regular boxing fans and only occasionally follow the sport.
Firstly, Netflix's supposed mid-event streaming errors were criticized by many fans. Secondly, the relatively low-output Paul-Tyson fight was derided. Many asserted that the 27-year-old Paul shouldn't have fought 58-year-old boxing legend Tyson who's faced various health issues.
On The Ariel Helwani Show, veteran journalist Ariel Helwani, who served as the event's emcee and in-ring interviewer, has now come to its defense. Highlighting what's irking him, he underscored his disapproval of casual boxing viewers who generally don't watch fighting anyway but claim to have been conned by the Paul-Tyson fight.
Helwani feels some people convinced themselves that Tyson's prime 1987 version would show up and shut the polarizing Paul up. He emphasized that no one told them that Paul vs. Tyson was going to be the best quality boxing matchup.
The reporter added that the card also featured top-tier boxers like Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano (the event's co-headliners), Bruce Carrington, Shadasia Green, Mario Barrios, and Abel Ramos -- which was great for boxing, as the sport has long been a victim of top-heavy cards where only the main event mattered.
Helwani claimed there's a beneficial "trickle-down effect," as other fighters like Taylor and Serrano benefitted by featuring alongside big-name celebrities like Paul and Tyson. He opined that as UFC CEO Dana White says, the fans would've had a case to argue if they'd paid a high pay-per-view fee to watch the event.
On that note, Helwani explained that the event was free for Netflix subscribers. He asserted that though the streaming problems were annoying, the Paul-Tyson fight played out as expected:
"Spare me the, 'We were conned.' Again, you know why you weren't conned? You didn't pay a cent for it. It was a part of your Netflix subscription."
He reiterated that people had unrealistic expectations for the Paul-Tyson matchup. Helwani added:
"Spare me the f**king sanctimonious bullsh** about you were conned. You were not conned. You conned yourself. No one conned you. Everyone knew exactly what this [the Paul vs. Tyson fight] was. 14-ounce gloves, eight two-minute rounds. You should have known better."
Helwani took to X to post a snippet of his aforementioned analysis. Also, an excerpt of his statement in the post read:
"Spare me of your sanctimony."
Watch Ariel Helwani's assessment below:
Check out Helwani's comments below (19:23 and 22:20):
Ariel Helwani reiterated his stance in Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson aftermath
Jake Paul outpointed ex-undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson in the headlining match of the event, which went down at the mammoth AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, U.S.A., on Nov. 15, 2024. It was U.S.-headquartered streaming giant Netflix's first attempt at live-streaming a boxing event.
As such, Netflix's streaming and buffering capabilities reportedly struggled. Many alleged that the video quality was underwhelming and the stream lagged throughout, particularly during the main event.
One X user, who claimed to be an old-school boxing fan, challenged Ariel Helwani's aforementioned monolog in defense of the event.
For his part, Helwani was unwavering in his stance and issued the following response to the post:
"Surely you enjoyed Taylor and Serrano getting the Netflix platform then."