'A lot of eyeballs': Canada's Watpool and Bahdi aim to capitalize on Friday's Paul vs. Tyson spectacle

How did Canadian middleweight Melinda Watpool land a spot on the undercard of Nov. 15's megawatt showdown between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul, on the first-ever boxing card to stream on Netflix?

She waited.

The undefeated resident of Pefferlaw, Ont., had twice received offers from Paul's company, Most Valuable Promotions, to face their middleweight prospect, Shadasia Green. Watpool turned them down twice, preferring to build her résumé against lesser-known fighters. The third time MVP came calling Watpool accepted, and now she's scheduled to face Green for the World Boxing Organization super-middleweight title at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where organizers expect more than 80,000 spectators

"I pretty much said yes right away. Yes, yes yes," said Watpool, who is 7-0 with two knockouts. "World championship. A good purse. A good card. It just seemed like everything was lining up the way we had planned and hoped for."

And how did fellow Canadian Lucas Bahdi secure his own opportunity to fight in Arlington?

He created it by knocking out Ashton Sylve, MVP's rising lightweight contender, on a Jake Paul undercard in July. That surprise win earned the Niagara Falls native a contract with Paul's company, and a spot on a fight card, broadcast on Netflix, that organizers think could attract more than 25 million streams.

"A lot of eyeballs on me now," said Bahdi, who is 17-0 with 15 knockouts, and will face undefeated Italian Armando Casamonica. "Puts me in a whole 'nother category."

Canadians take centre stage

Together, Watpool and Bahdi add a heavy dose of Canadian content to a fight card that could become the most-viewed boxing event in history. 

"It's a great night of boxing topped off with one of the most fascinating matchups in sports history," said Nakisa Bidarian, the veteran sports business executive who co-founded MVP alongside Paul.

For Watpool, the road to Tyson-Paul starts in Pefferlaw, where she lives and co-owns Pefferlaw Hardware, and goes through Mississauga, where she trains with the veteran trainer Dewith Frazer. She balances boxing with managing the store, and helping her parents on their farm, and is a beneficiary of pro boxing's resurgence in southern Ontario.

In 2014 the province hosted six pro boxing events. This year it is scheduled to see 15, including seven staged by United Promotions, the company that promotes Watpool. Since turning pro in 2022, she has averaged three wins a year against steadily improving opposition. She has twice defeated former super lightweight champion Natasha Spence, a local hopeful who lost a decision to Green in July. The most recent victory, a 10-round unanimous decision in Pickering, Ont., in September, signalled that Watpool was ready for top-tier contenders like Green.

For his part, Bahdi was a self-promoted fighter, staging fights under the banner of his company, Fallsboys Promotions, when MVP offered him a shot at Sylve, on a Jake Paul undercard. 

The early stages of that bout unfolded the way betting lines said it would, with Sylve winning the first five rounds on every judge's scorecard. But midway through the sixth, Bahdi, with blood trickling from his nostrils, clipped Sylve with two quick power shots — a right hand that whiplashed Sylve's head, and a left hook that sent him to the canvas, face down.

The highlight quickly went viral, and the victory earned Bahdi a contract with MVP. While he loses the autonomy that came with being his own boxing boss, he's now free to concentrate on his boxing skills. Bahdi travelled to Las Vegas to wrap up training camp, sparring at the famed Top Rank gym with rising lightweight star Keyshawn Davis.

"The goal was always to sign with a big promoter, with a network," said Bahdi, 30. "Without the networks, it's really hard to put on big shows because of the budgets."

While Bahdi and Watpool will carry hopes of hometown fans into the ring with them — Watpool expects about 70 people from Pefferlaw to travel to Arlington for the fight — they, along with other athletes on the undercard are also tasked with delivering top-tier pro boxing to what could be a record-breaking audience.

It's a heavy lift on a fight card anchored by two crossover bouts that are as likely to underwhelm as they are to entertain.

One bout will pit Neeraj Goyat, a fringe lightweight contender from India, against Whindersson Nunes, a Brazilian comedian making his pro boxing debut.

Paul vs. Tyson: Novelty or outright farce

The other is the main event, which looks like it might land somewhere on the spectrum between a novelty match and an outright farce. Paul, 27, gained fame as a YouTube star but essentially trains boxing full time at his compound in Puerto Rico, surrounded by world-class coaches. He's clearly serious about boxing, but this bout will feature two-minute rounds (men's pro boxing rounds last three minutes), and 14-ounce gloves, where standard rules call for 10-ounce gloves. Paul's training regimen says title fight, but the rule set screams exhibition.

And then there's Tyson, who appears powerful and fast for a man his age, but his age matters. He's 58, and peaked as an athlete halfway through 1988. Three words describe his in-ring decline since then: gradual, then precipitous. This isn't a gambling advice column but here's a free tip — don't bet on Tyson setting a fast pace for very long.

As insurance, organizers dotted the undercard with bouts that, in another context, could headline.

Welterweights Mario Barrios and Abel Ramos will clash for the World Boxing Council title, while the co-main event features a rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano — a pairing that sold out Madison Square Garden in 2022, breaking new ground and setting revenue records for a women's bout.

"I can guarantee the co-main event is going to be unbelievably entertaining," Bidarian said, cagily declining to promise that headliners Tyson and Paul could deliver excitement. 

Whatever role they play on the undercard, Watpool and Bahdi will also enter next Friday aware of the possibilities a win could create. Defeating Green could put Watpool in play for a showdown with Claressa Shields, who has been undisputed champion in two different divisions, and who recently defeated Canadian Vanessa Lepage Joanisse to claim a heavyweight crown. Her 2022 bout with Savannah Marshall was one of only two women's bouts – Taylor-Serrano was the other – to earn seven-figure guarantees for both athletes.

"[Shields is] the Mayweather of women's boxing," Frazer said. "She's the Canelo. She's the cash cow."

As for Bahdi, he hopes to become a major player in the 135-pound lightweight division. The online records database Boxrec ranks him 17th worldwide, a tier below Davis, and two steps below more recognizable names like Shakur Stevenson and Gervonta "Tank" Davis. But in terms of skills Bahdi says he belongs alongside the division's biggest stars, and aims to prove it against Casamonica.

"Look at the stage that I'm on," he said. "I'm performing in front of 80,000 people. That's a lot of eyeballs on me."