The Netflix boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson stirred significant attention, not just for the fighters but also for the ring girls present at the event. Among them, Sydney Thomas and Lexi Williams garnered considerable interest from fans and media alike.
The event, which took place at AT&T Stadium, was live-streamed on Netflix and saw the 27-year-old YouTuber defeat the 58-year-old former professional boxer.
Other ring girls included Raphaela Milagres, Virginia Sanhouse, Delia Sylvain and Lexi Williams, per the New York Post.
Sydney Thomas: From Cheerleader to Viral Sensation
Sydney Thomas, a 20-year-old student and cheerleader for the St. Louis Cardinals, went viral after the Netflix-streamed fight. She caught plenty of eyeballs at the event.
“History was made, and I’m truly honored to have been a part of it,” Sydney Thomas said of her experience in the boxing ring. “Getting the opportunity to step into the ring with Mike Tyson and Jake Paul for such a historic fight is something I never imagined I’d be able to say. History was made, and I’m truly honored to have been a part of it.”
Read also: Resilience in Netflix's Architecture
Since going viral for her gig at the highly anticipated boxing match, which streamed live on Netflix, Thomas has seen her online engagement explode.
“I woke up and saw how my followers had gone up, and then saw all the news articles that had been written about me,” Thomas recalled of the morning after the fight. “I refreshed my feed and it was just pictures of me and memes and everything.
She added, “It is very overwhelming. But at the same time, I’m also very blessed and very grateful.
“I knew the exposure was going to be awesome, just the fact that it was being streamed on Netflix and it was such an iconic fight,” she said to Us. “But I had no idea that all the focus was going to shift from the results to the ring girl being the main star of the event.
“I think what’s next for me is to continue building up my social media and continue working with Most Valuable Promotions and being a ring girl,” she added.
Read also: How to Watch Paul vs. Tyson
“A ton of Only Fans pages have been made impersonating me,” she wrote via her Instagram Story on Wednesday, November 20.
Fans have even compared Sydney Thomas to Sydney Sweeney.
One fan wrote: “Stunner. You were the best part.” In a separate comment, a fan compared Thomas to Sydney Sweeney.
One of Thomas’ friends, fellow influencer Maddy Muir, congratulated her pal. “Hard work paid off u look amazing,” she wrote below the same post.
Some fans reacted to Sydney Thomas being a ring girl at the fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Your beauty erased that from my memory” - with another person replying to them, “lmao cringe”.
Read also: Martial arts meets comedy in Shaolin Soccer
Lexi Williams: Model and Influencer
Ring girl Lexi Williams was the highlight for many fans trying to watch the Netflix boxing match between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson. Lexi Williams is a professional model and social media influencer who has gained significant popularity in recent years. With over 1.4 million followers on Instagram alone, she has worked with big brands like Fashion Nova and Bikini Crush Swimwear and has even been part of important events like the 2024 Miami Swim Week or the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson vs. fight.
Originally she is from Tennessee but now lives in California. She graduated from university with a Bachelor’s Degree and as of 2024, she’s estimated to be worth around $2 million.
Looking ahead, Lexi plans to keep growing her modeling career and might even start her own fashion line.
Hot Ring Girl!
Controversy and Speculation
The speculation was already present well before the fight, but one moment that prompted fireworks led to even more talk of possible staging.
Tyson slapped Paul across the face at the weigh-in, saying Paul had stepped on his toe. Several people needed to separate Tyson from Paul, causing a melee on the stage.
Fans pointed to the ring girls behind them, who continued to pose and smile, as evidence that it was all planned.
But Sydney Thomas, who has since nearly doubled her social media following, says they had no choice but to not react.
"I was so shocked that it happened. I was not expecting that at all. … But our job as event models is to stand there and smile, we’re not really supposed to react. You’re not supposed to change what you’re doing. You’re supposed to be in the background of all the pictures and not have these big reactions," Thomas told Fox News Digital in a recent interview.
So, Thomas had to keep her cool.
"I’m like, ‘Oh! He just slapped him!’ But I have to hold this smile the whole time. In my head, I’m like, ‘No way. But keep smiling! They’re taking so many pictures, this moment’s going to go so viral. I got to be looking good back here!' That was my thought process."
"A lot of people, too, had drawn a line [and] said, ‘This has to be staged. There’s no way that’s real. The models in the back didn’t even react.’ They were saying it was on us for the reason why it was looking so fake, because we didn’t react. That’s our entire job. We’re paid to stand there and smile. We’re professional at it. We’re not going to have these reactions. It was shocking, but that’s our job."
MVP's Response
Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) made sure to nix any speculation that the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight was compromised in any capacity, but in case you needed more evidence, one of the ring girls from that night is giving it.
MVP ripped any notion that the fight was rigged in any form.
"If you were to rig such competition, it is a federal crime. And myself, Jake Paul, Mike Tyson, executives from Netflix would all be going to jail. They would be risking their entire company, and we would be risking our entire lives to do that," Bidarian told Fox News Digital last week.
"It is preposterous that people even suggest that this was in any way anything other than a professional fight. … That was not the case in any Jake fight, let alone this one."
MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital that the fight was "100% real from beginning to end."