Watching It Happen の

好き, 嫌い, 上手, 下手, 早い, 遅い, all naturally pair with の rather than こと, an idiomatic preference that’s easiest to just memorize by pattern. こと would technically be understandable in most of these but sounds noticeably less natural.

見る, 聞く, 聞こえる, 見える always take の, never こと, when the object is something you directly witnessed happening, a live event caught by your own eyes or ears, rather than an abstract fact you simply know about.

こと usually fits better when the nominalized clause is abstract, a fact, an idea, a decision, ことができる, ことになる, ことにする, all patterns you’ve already learned. の fits better when it’s something concrete, immediate, or personally felt, closer to watching a scene unfold than stating an abstract truth.