On November 15, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, there might be a boxing match between a 58-year-old, 19-year retired former champion and an 11-fight novice/social media influencer whose greatest boxing wins have come towards non-boxers. The 8-round combat might be contested, mainly, underneath girls’s boxing guidelines with outsized gloves. It’ll be the largest boxing occasion within the US, by far.
That ought to be completely humiliating for American boxing businessmen, who’ve completed nothing this yr however feed bogus rumors of upcoming fights to media and seize at Saudi Arabian payouts.
Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul is a joke. And that’s positive. Boxing has all the time had fluff fights and movie star nonsense swirling round its perimeters. However Tyson-Paul shouldn’t be on the perimeter. It’s larger than something “actual” boxing has produced this yr and, within the vacuum of US boxing doldrums, it’s far more important than it ought to be.
And, once more, that ought to be embarrassing as fuck.
Tyson, whose final significant win got here across the time then-President Clinton was telling the world, “I didn’t have sexual relations with that lady, Ms. Lewinsky,” shouldn’t be preventing in an precise sanctioned boxing match.
Jake Paul’s 10-1 file consists of bouts with a YouTuber, a retired NBA star, six former MMA stars, a part-time boxer/actuality TV star, two undersized boxing sub-club fighters, and a bare-knuckle brawler.
To make issues much more surreal, the Netflix-aired present will in all probability be probably the most considered fight sports activities occasion within the historical past of the world.
There’s been some buzz about how Tyson-Paul could also be a wrestle to promote out the 80,000 seat Cowboys Stadium, however each seat will probably be offered by combat evening and organizers appears to be positive with promoting the hell out of the big-shot seats whereas slicing offers to have the rabble populate a budget seats. There’s even a ridiculously decadent $2 million “MVP Proprietor’s Expertise” seat package deal for the shamelessly wealthy who don’t imagine within the type of Hell reserved for the kind of wealthy folks who’d somewhat spend $2 million to see this type of silliness than donate the cash to one thing like St. Jude’s Kids’s Hospital.
Extra off-putting than the exaggerated significance of one thing like Tyson-Paul is absolutely the impotence of American boxing.
2024 has been a misplaced yr for American boxing and the once-powerful, boxing-dominant trio of High Rank, Golden Boy, and PBC have taken a knee within the face of adversity faster than Ryan Garcia after he took that Tank Davis intestine shot.
And, actually, all it took to place boxing in hospice care was some Saudi man waving money round.
Oscar Da La Hoya’s Golden Boy has embraced promoting itself out to the Saudis and is, per my sources, trying to ditch their failed Ring Journal property to their new overlords as nicely (in the event that they haven’t completed so already).
High Rank, figureheaded by the crotchety Bob Arum, shouldn’t be as whorish as Oscar and firm, however continues to be begrudgingly taking a knee to Saudi pursuits, even permitting Saudi level man Turki Alalshikh to make fights for contract gamers with out their consent.
PBC’s downfall might not be Saudi-related, nevertheless it IS an indication of those instances the place there appears to be no fireplace lit underneath any of those boxing firm asses anymore.
The plain resolution to this flat-lining of the US scene could be for these folks to start out working collectively and dealing in direction of fights that truly matter. However, in fact, that is boxing and logic all the time takes a again seat to grabs at fast, empty payouts which can be extra long-term dangerous than long-term useful.
Presently main the US-based scene are Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Gervonta “Tank” Davis– two legitimately compelling performers who’ve leveraged their star energy (towards boxing promoters’ desperation to seek out attracts) into forcing weak mismatches at premium costs. Good for them…completely horrible for everybody else.
“Boxing is dying” has been a reverse rallying cry for ‘The sky is falling’ alarmists since Braddock beat Baer. However no person can look into this present boxing void and make the argument that the game is extra alive than useless in the intervening time.
US boxing has, for all intents and functions, resigned. It’s even let prime fighters like Terence Crawford, Shakur Stevenson, and Jaron Ennis basically float away to overseas pursuits.
However, getting again to Mike Tyson-Jake Paul…
Their nonsense is a giant deal as a result of each guys are stars and boxing is a star-driven sport. The US boxing scene, in the meantime, can’t create a giant deal nowadays as a result of it could’t/gained’t make stars and may’t/gained’t make significant fights for the few stars it does have. It’s actually that straightforward.
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