Boxing is a sport driven by the beauty of what elite athletes can do with their hands and feet. Fans marvel at the brutality as few have the skills to propel them to greatness.

It is also an activity that reveals two people who just want to fight for money.

That’s what’s happening Friday night at AT&T Stadium when Mike Tyson and Jake Paul square off in one of the biggest boxing matches of the year.

Tyson is among the few people in the history of the sport to become an icon for its brutality in the ring. Paul is part of a the new generation of athletes gaining attention on social media.

His claim to fame as an actor and YouTuber-turned-boxer is getting him attention and earning him huge amounts of money.

Tyson’s claim to fame hurts those in the ring.

The fight is expected print money for event promotersadd more Netflix subscribers — who will broadcast the fight — and reintroduce a new generation of fans to Tyson, who fought in the 1980s and 1990s and was once considered “the meanest man on the planet.”

Also expected to grow is the presence of Paul, who has developed a generation of fans who follow his exploits on social media, including more than 20 million subscribers on YouTube.

“I’m here to win $40 million and knock out a legend,” Paul said at a press conference this summer.

“Who else is going to fight to make this happen?” asked Tyson, who became the youngest heavyweight champion at 20. “You have to look at the facts. We have a YouTuber fighting the greatest fighter that ever lived.”

The basic rules

The biggest question about Tyson-Paul is how it became the biggest boxing event of the year in what promoters and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation call for a sanctioned fight.

The eight-round bout with two-minute rounds and 14-ounce gloves reflects an exhibition. Most marked bouts are 10 or 12 rounds, with younger fighters or journeymen engaged in eight-round bouts. The standard for boxing gloves is 10 or 12 ounces.

It’s a fight that will count for the official records of Tyson (50-6, 44 knockouts) and Paul (10-1, 7 KOs). However, a win does not elevate Tyson to contender status, something he is not interested in considering he is 58 years old. And Paul, 27, is no closer to fighting for a legitimate professional boxing title than he is to becoming the starting quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys.

So what does this mean for boxing? People who have been around the fighting game for more than 30 years struggle to make sense of it.

“It’s something that can’t be answered,” said boxing promoter Don King, considered one of the best in the history of the sport. “It really doesn’t mean anything. Mike is one of the bravest and greatest fighters of all time. Jake is a great chaser, he has a great base. You deal with what is real.”

Maybe that’s what this fight is about – the show.

It won’t be the first time boxing has had a sideshow attached to it.

In 1976, Muhammad Ali fought Japanese fighter Antonio Inoki in Japan. In 2017, 40-year-old Floyd Mayweather came out of retirement to fight MMA star Connor McGregor. Mayweather won by TKO after wearing down McGregor in a fight that drew 4.3 million pay-per-view buys for a total of $600 million.

In 2020, Tyson fought Roy Jones Jr. to a draw in an exhibition on a fight card that also featured Paul.

On that card, Paul eliminated former NBA player Nate Robinson, prompting music artist Snoop Dogg, who was one of the fight’s commentators, to break out into a song mocking Robinson.

In 2021, Mayweather fought Jake Paul’s older brother Logan to a draw.

Even former Olympic figure skaters have turned to boxing.

Tonya Harding, a former Olympic figure skater famous for hiring someone to injure rival Nancy Kerrigan in the 1990s, decided to box when her skating career fizzled out. Harding fought Melissa Yans in a strip club parking lot in 2003.

“I’ve always done exhibitions, three-ring circus. It’s high theater,” said Lou DiBella, a former sports executive at HBO who now promotes and manages fighters. “But when a state regulates a sport to give legitimacy to a guy at AARP who makes all the rules, that’s messed up. I am not against this event. There is no standardized oversight of the sport of boxing in the United States of America.”

The Tyson-Paul fight was originally scheduled for July 20 but Tyson suffered a medical problem on a flight to Los Angeles. It was later revealed that Tyson was suffering from ulcers and was instructed by doctors to reject the fight. While attending a Cowboys game in September, Tyson said he was almost healthy and planned to knock Paul out.

The health scare didn’t deter TDLR from allowing Tyson to fight.

Tela Mange, the communications manager of the licensing agency, said fighters over the age of 36 go through additional medical tests and must present “favorable results of an EEG and EKG test before they are allowed to compete in a combat sports competition in Texas’.

Mange said state-appointed doctors will discuss Tyson’s medical history with him before the fight.

“We can agree a 58-year-old icon who smokes a lot of weed, fighting a guy who does nothing but stay in shape, should be called an exhibition,” DiBella said. “I’ll follow him.”

And that’s the point.

Is this a good thing?

Netflix is ​​offering the fight to its 282.7 million subscribers, and that number is expected to grow as interest in watching the fight increases.

Some believe this fight will hurt the sport by taking attention away from current stars. This year, the sport awarded the first four-belt heavyweight champion in Oleksandr Usyk, saw a highly anticipated bout won by the popular Ryan Garcia, and featured, quite possibly, the fight of the year between Sebastian Fundora and Tim Tszyu.

There were also two fights by Mexican star Canelo Alvarez, the biggest pay-per-view draw of the moment.

But here is Tyson-Paul, with the expected massive following.

“It’s bringing in Netflix and it’s going to be presented to a worldwide audience,” said Bob Arum, who, like King, has been one of the sport’s top promoters for more than 30 years. “It’s good for boxing. It doesn’t seem like a great fight with Mike being older and Jake not being a good fighter, but it’s a good book. It’s a big plus for boxing. It will get a great audience, something the sport needs.”

The Tyson-Paul winner is almost insignificant. The wrestling show at AT&T Stadiumon Netflix, with the Cowboys brand attached to it and an excellent fight book featuring three title fights is more than enough.

“I think there’s a lot of interest, excitement,” said Stephen Espinoza, a former Showtime sports executive who plans to attend the fight. “Mike is an icon. Jake is committed to growing the sport. Enthusiasm is good for the sport of boxing. The card is very good. I’m sure there’s some resentment from boxing people that Jake has this platform, but a lot of fighters are wary because of it.”

Friday night will tell us a lot about Paul’s pulling power. AT&T Stadium’s capacity could reach 70,000, generating a record gate for a Texas boxing match.

One can question this type of fight, but one cannot dispute the marketing, money and attention it will bring to boxing.

The main battle book

The main card begins with the Netflix live stream beginning at 7:00 p.m.:

— Neeraj Goyat Vs. Whindersson Nunes

— Mario Barrios vs. Abel Ramos (WBC world welterweight title)

— Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 2 (undisputed super lightweight world title)

— Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

Undercard

The preliminary card will start at 16:30 and will be streamed live on YouTube, Netflix Sports YouTube and Tudum.

— Shu Shu Carrington Jr. vs. Dana Coolwell

— Lucas Bahdi vs. Armando Casamonica

— Shadasia Green vs. Melinda Watpool (WBO super middleweight world title)

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