Let’s be honest about Mike Tyson’s ‘fight’ with Jake Paul in Dallas on Friday night: it has as much relevance to the sport as an episode of the Great British Bake-Off.
It’s the Party Hole at LIV Las Vegas where the attraction is the dancing DJ, not the golf.
It’s a Demolition Derby at a state fair. It’s Jesse Owens riding a horse. It’s Kanye West throwing out the first pitch.
It’s a kid trying to score a penalty against a guy dressed as a dinosaur at half-time at Emirates Stadium.
All sports are entertainment but not all entertainment is sports. I wouldn’t say Tyson-Paul isn’t entertainment because I’d be there if I could and I’d probably pay to see it on TV.
Mike Tyson’s return to the ring on Friday is entertainment but should not be classified as sport
The 58-year-old former world champion will face YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, 27, in Dallas
We’re all talking about that too. And many of us are writing about it. But it’s not sport. For me, at least, not.
Tyson-Paul is a scammer. It’s a barrel full of dollar bills dressed in sportswear to seduce you. Its only value lies in its cultural significance because, unfortunately, it is a sign of where the sport is headed.
It is another sign of the submission of sport to money and the triumph of image over competition. And even if it’s sometimes hard to admit, maybe it’s also an indicator of what a new generation of sports fans want from Netflix.
It is an eight-round, two-minute fight adapted to the age at which the attention span is shortened. It is a standout package. It’s bite-sized, although Evander Holyfield may not appreciate that inference.
The ‘fight’, at the AT&T Stadium, is sister to the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be one of the best players in the world because he scores goals and poses in the Saudi Pro League.
It is brother to the notion that Inter Miami is one of the best 32 teams in the world because Lionel Messi plays for them and should qualify for next summer’s Club World Cup, even though they were just eliminated in the first round of the MLS. playoffs.
The Tyson-Paul fight is sister to the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo remains one of the best players in the world because he scores goals and poses in the Saudi Pro League.
The event appears to be an indicator of what a new generation of sports fans want from Netflix.
The fight has pathos and nostalgia for a fighter who was once known as the baddest man on the planet.
It’s a cousin of the WWE, Tiger and Rory’s TGL golf league, and those horrendous celebrity soccer games where someone calling themselves iShowSpeed actually seems to think they’re a player. It’s the sport that went wrong. It is the dystopia of sport.
Tyson-Paul carries moving elements of pathos and nostalgia and, in many observers, provokes a feeling of disgust, but that is not enough to make it a sport either.
Friendly soccer matches are not sports because the result does not matter. The same goes for those pre-season tours that Premier League clubs take each summer. They are not sports. They are commercial exercises that have to be endured for cash.
That’s why American television executives are so interested in dragging regular-season Premier League games to the United States: because they’re real.
Look, I’m not saying it doesn’t take courage to get in the ring with Mike Tyson. It takes courage to get in a ring with anyone, let alone the wrestler who was once known as the baddest man on the planet. I was scared just by asking him a question at a press conference.
But I’m not sure Tyson-Paul is real. It’s strange. It’s sad. It’s a circus. It will make a lot of people a lot of money and generate a lot of views on social media. But that doesn’t make it a sport. It makes it a betrayal of the sport.
It is a spectacle and it is an extravagance. It’s a red carpet. It’s a photo opportunity. It’s a marketing exercise. It is a source of income. It’s a shouting match and an opportunity to take a stand and promote yourself.
The event is an opportunity to position and promote yourself, but it will generate a lot of money for people.
Paul first found fame performing stunts and pranks, but the prank will be on us on Friday.
And even if the rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano is the highest quality competition on offer Friday night in Texas, the evening will be a giant celebration of the new American manosphere of Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
It is a branch of sport. It’s something grafted onto sports. It is a leech that clings to a host and sucks whatever it can. I hope neither of them get hurt, but other than that, I’m not sure I care about the outcome because the outcome doesn’t matter.
Instinctively, I suppose I would like Tyson to win, because he was once a great athlete. And if, at the age of 58, with a whole series of serious medical problems behind him, he defeats Paul, at least he will expose once and for all the emptiness of so-called sports careers built on the quicksand of modern celebrity . .
Jake Paul first found fame performing stunts and pranks. On Friday night, the joke will be on us.