![\"Canelo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1758201249_102_960x0.jpg\")
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Terence Crawford fought Canelo Alvarez in a championship bout aired on Netflix. (Photo by Josh Hedges\/TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
TKO Worldwide LLC via Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a question that often gets asked: Is boxing a dying sport? And here\u2019s the one-word proof of how silly the question is: Netflix.<\/p>\n
The streaming giant has leaped into the squared circle, airing boxing events that have recorded bonkers viewership numbers that ultimately drive the all-powerful advertising and sponsorship dollar. <\/p>\n
Think about this: Netflix announced<\/a> that 41 million viewers tuned in to the streaming service to watch Saturday night\u2019s Canelo Alvarez-Terence Crawford fight; that\u2019s five million more viewers than the first four games combined of the 2025 NBA finals<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event, which saw Crawford dethrone Alvarez for the super middleweight title, was also No. 1 on Netflix in 30 countries, including the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Ireland and Australia, while also cracking the top 10 in 91 other countries.<\/p>\n Bigger viewership numbers are expected when Netflix airs the next Jake Paul fight<\/a> on November 14 \u2014 a match that will pit Paul against Gervonta \u201cTank\u201d Davis, the current lightweight champion who has mass appeal. <\/p>\n Netflix has seen how Paul leverages his enormous social media following, bringing new and younger fans to boxing, and how he also creates compelling storylines that attract significant media attention. <\/p>\n Like Paul, Netflix has its own formula for success in the boxing ring: It leverages its production expertise to build hype around live events through documentaries, behind-the-scenes features, and other content. This transforms a single boxing match into a larger cultural event, deepening engagement with sports fans. A prime example was Netflix\u2019s first foray into the sport last November when it built out the ultimate spectacle when Paul fought the iconic Mike Tyson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mike Tyson, left, fought Jake Paul during a heavyweight that aired on Netflix. (Photo By Stephen McCarthy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Tyson-Paul match drew an estimated 108 million live global viewers and peaked at 65 million concurrent streams, making it the most-streamed sporting event ever; that\u2019s inching towards Super Bowl numbers, with the last one watched by 127.7 million people across all platforms.<\/p>\n Even though the fight itself rated as a dud, Tyson-Paul reportedly drummed up 1.43 million new subscribers<\/a> for the streamer.<\/p>\n And a historical side-note: On the Tyson-Paul undercard, the rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano became the most-watched women\u2019s sporting event in U.S. history, reaching an average of 74 million live viewers globally and 47 million in the U.S., establishing a new benchmark for viewership in women\u2019s sports.<\/p>\n And more history: Back in July, Netflix, along with Paul\u2019s Most Valuable Promotions, produced the first-ever all-women\u2019s professional boxing card headlined by Taylor-Serrano III \u2014 a fight that tallied 6 million viewers, which is the most watched women\u2019s pro sporting event of 2025<\/a> so far. <\/p>\n More context of how big Taylor-Serrano III was for women\u2019s sports: It doubled the viewership of the most-watched WNBA Finals game ever<\/a>: Game 5 of the 2024 Finals between the New York Liberty and the Minnesota Lynx, which peaked at 3.3 million viewers.<\/p>\n For comparison sake, the most-watched UFC fight in history is the UFC 229 main event between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov, which generated an all-time record of approximately 2.4 million pay-per-view buys<\/a> in 2018; that\u2019s less than half the audience that watched Taylor and Serrano\u2019s trilogy fight and only a sliver (about 6% ) of the viewers who watched Crawford-Alvarez.<\/p>\n Katie Taylor, left, fought Amanda Serrano in a fight that drew more than 6 million viewers on Netflix. (Photo by Al Bello\/Getty Images for Netflix)<\/p>\n Getty Images for Netflix<\/p>\n So it should be no shocker that UFC boss Dana White has recently jumped into the boxing business. White, in collaboration with Saudi promoter Turki Alalshikh and Netflix, promoted the Alvarez-Crawford bout, marking his entr\u00e9e into boxing promotions with his Zuffa Boxing venture. <\/p>\n