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Sydney Thomas, the ring girl who went viral during the Netflix boxing match between social media influencer Jake Paul and Boxing Hall of Famer and former undisputed world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, revealed how she landed the gig during a Q&A with her Snapchat followers.
“I was found through social media!” Thomas said when asked how she became a ring girl. “I did my first fight in Puerto Rico a month ago and Paul x Tyson was my second time in the ring!”
Thomas, 20, who studies management with a focus in entrepreneurship at the University of Alabama, said she gained more than 500,000 followers across all social media platforms since being shown during the live Netflix broadcast.
“Im happy you guys enjoyed the broadcast!!” Thomas captioned on a TikTok post shared on Saturday (November 16), which included a video caption that stated, "waking up to see I'm trending for the Tyson v Paul fight."
Thomas also shared a post thanking her followers for their support on her Instagram story Saturday.
“I woke up to an overwhelming amount of love and support from all of you,” she wrote. “I can’t thank you guys enough or begin to express how grateful I am. I love you all — thank you for your kind words.”
Paul, 27, scored 80-72, 79-73, 79-73, over Tyson, 58, whose last official match came in a loss to Kevin McBride in 2005, during the highly-anticipated event at AT&T Stadium. Fans were livid by the fight itself, which many online deemed to be boring and a cash-grab, as well as Netflix's streaming issues throughout the night, with the service trending as many customers experienced buffering issues during the rest of the card, including Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.
"Im in the classic torture chamber where I cant tell if my internet keeps going out or whether #Netflix is just constantly buffering and unwatchable for everybody," Portnoy wrote on his X account. "So the reports are in. #Netflix wasnt ready for this. This is unwatchable."
"Credit to Jake Paul + Mike Tyson for pulling off one of the great cons of century. I shoulda put 10 million on Jake. Not cause he's good but cause he fought a senior citizen. I would say everybody involved should be ashamed but I'd take the money it too if I could. #TysonPaul," Portnoy added in another post.
Tyson, the youngest boxer to ever win a heavyweight title and one of the most dominant ever in the weight class, went 50-6-2 (44 KO) in 58 career professional fights prior to Friday's loss. Paul has a 10-1 record in 11 professional boxing matches, which included a first-round TKO against Ryan Bourland on March 2.