Netflix’s Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight was a big moment for Bluesky

It was morbid curiosity that made me tune in to Netflix’s live boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on Saturday night. The stream ran into technical issues, and the fight itself was slow and ponderous. But there was something else that kept me watching: all of the jokes flying on Bluesky.

That kind of real-time social experience is a large part of what made X feel so vital back when it was still called Twitter. Whether it was the World Cup or a presidential election or a Nintendo Direct, having so many people posting in one place made it feel alive, an experience that Meta’s Threads, with its algorithmic feed, hasn’t been able to replicate. But at least for a brief moment on Saturday night, Bluesky sure did.

The Paul vs. Tyson match was actually a near-perfect confluence of events for Bluesky. The site has seen a surge of signups over the past week, including a number of defectors from X. While I’ve had an account since last year, it was only in the past week that I actually started posting and building out my following list. The momentum coincided with Netflix’s biggest bet so far on live broadcasting. So when I tuned in to the Netflix fight, I figured it was a good time to see how well Bluesky held up in terms of creating a second screen experience to follow along.

It didn’t disappoint. Prior to the main event, there was an actual good fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. The bout itself had everything: huge momentum swings, dangerous headbutts, and a controversial decision in Taylor’s favor that led to some great post-fight quotes. It was when Serrano’s trainer, Jordan Maldonado, uttered the hilarious line “Katie is a beautiful person, but has an extremely huge head” that my feed really started to come alive.

Then came arguably the biggest moment of the night, one that had nothing to do with pugilism. In a pre-match interview, Tyson was calm and collected while speaking to his son, only to turn around and accidentally reveal his bare behind in front of the millions watching at home. Meme accounts went straight to work, and seemingly everyone I followed had something to say about it. It reminded me a little of the infamous Oscars slap, only less uncomfortable.

From there, my feed included a lot of people complaining about how tame the Paul vs. Tyson fight was (especially after the high of Taylor vs. Serrano) as well as the quality of the broadcast itself, which often appeared pixelated as the stream dipped and included a few other hiccups, like nonworking microphones. Many wondered aloud just why we were all watching this.

I know that I would’ve tuned out if it weren’t for that real-time commentary, which can elevate even the most mundane live experience. Sometimes a bad event actually becomes fun because of the online chatter. And perhaps the most remarkable thing about Bluesky on Saturday night was that it wasn’t remarkable at all — it felt just like the Twitter of old. And that’s exactly what Bluesky needs to continue growing.

Sports are a big deal on social networks, and as X’s grip on that space has loosened, many have struggled to replicate it elsewhere. Threads seemed like an ideal space given the scale of its user base, but its algorithm-driven feed makes real-time conversation difficult. In fact, the day after the fight, I checked in on Threads only to see 20-hour-old posts from when the fight was still live. If Bluesky can manage the technical challenges of its growing user base, it could become the alternative sports fans like me are looking for.