TOLEDO, Ohio — According to Netflix, more than 108 million viewers tuned in to watch the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight.
Among those viewers was 28-year-old Dakota Hill of Toledo. He said he's always been around boxing.
"I've had a lot of people around me that have done it throughout their past. A couple of friends with golden gloves, champions and all that, so I came up around it, watching it," Hill said.
But it wasn't until the Tyson and Paul fight that brought him to Soul City Gym for his first boxing lessons.
"I didn't fully mature into wanting to do it until after seeing the Jake Paul and Mike Tyson fight. Watching that kind of inspired me to see that there is no age limit to what you can do and achieve as a man," Hill said. "So I decided to push my boundaries and come on in."
Co-owner of the gym, RoShawn Jones, said Hill isn't the only one to show interest right after the fight.
"Approximately 10 young kids signed up and three adults signed up based off the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul promotion," Jones said.
Jones said there's currently a waitlist with 20 people on it and the goal is not to turn any of them away.
"We are a family organization so when you come here, we treat you like family no matter your race, age, none of that," Jones said. "We are a home-based gym that helps people get off the streets and also help with mental health problems, with stress, anger and anxiety."
In order to welcome more people, Jones said they are expanding their training facilities.
One will be across the street from the current gym and another on the east side, all so that people can challenge themselves to try something new.
"Our overall goal is to help kids fight childhood obesity, help kids fight bullying, keep kids off the street and out of gangs, and also show them how you can graduate high school and college. So we will open our doors to basically help people," Jones said.
Hill said these classes are helping him with mental strength.
"That's the hardest thing is the mental strength to be able to achieve the condition and maintain it in between fights and not let yourself go," Hill said.
As for when the other facilities will be done, Jones said he is hoping within the next six months.