Mike Tyson's fight with Jake Paul underlines professional boxing's loss of steam
The most anticipated boxing fight of the year will not be one that puts a major title at stake. The world will come to a standstill at the beginning of this weekend (the main event kicks off at 03:00 CET) with Tyson returning to the ring 19 years after hanging up his gloves, with a record of 50-6 (44 KOs).
A return that has aroused the interest of the most nostalgic and of a youth that, in general, struggles to connect with boxing as a sport.
Opposing him will be Paul, a guy who rose to fame for his performance as a YouTuber and who, in 2020, appeared in his first professional fight.
Since then he has compiled a 10-1 record in which his victims have been mainly content creators and mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters.
The loss came against Tommy Fury, the only pure fighter he has ever faced and brother of the colossus Tyson Fury, which calls into question his true ability to overcome a strong boxing opponent.
No doubt sports fans are excited about the show, but the celebration of this eyesore dressed up as a legitimate bout evidences the discipline's loss of popularity since it lost its last media darling in 2017; when Floyd Mayweather signed off his 50-0 with a technical KO against Irish martial artist Conor McGregor.
In the case of the heavyweights, the championship reigns of the Ukrainian brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko are long gone - and even more so the golden era of historic American figures such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Joe Louis or Evander Holyfield.
The era of entertainment
For some time now, boxing has found its peaks of attraction with exhibition events in which entertainment took precedence over competition. One of the biggest contributors to this has been Mayweather himself, who has been filling his coffers with money by selling himself to the highest bidder since the end of his professional career.
The Michigan fighter, in fact, fought John Gotti III, the grandson of a former New York mob boss of the same name, in Mexico last August. In 2020, he even faced Iron Mike's rival's brother, Logan Paul, in a non-judged bout.
On the other hand, the hype created by the Brooklyn heavyweight's return to the ring, augmented by the delay caused by the New Yorker's illness (the fight should have been on July 20th), has revived rumours of the possibility of a third installment of his showdown with the man whose ear he bit off, 62-year-old Evander Holyfield, getting back on track.
But, over and above the dates with ex-boxer protagonists, those with streamers whose activity is far removed from the sporting arena, in the majority of cases, are prevailing. The best case is in Spain, where Twitch star Ibai Llanos holds the annual La Velada del Año.
In its fourth edition, in 2024, the event broke the purple platform's record for simultaneous viewers with almost 3.5 million peak viewers. It also managed to fill the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid with more than 80,000 attendees.
The rise of the UFC
A modality that continues to grow in popularity among fight fans and that is beginning to be the great rival of professional boxing is MMA, specifically within the framework of the most prolific company in the market, the UFC.
Led by its president, Dana White, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its octagon have managed to attract a loyal following.
With competitive animals and showmen such as Ilia Topuria, Islam Makhachev, Alexander Volkanovski, Alex Pereira and Jon Jones , the mixed martial arts industry is at its best.
The shorter duration of the fights, the dynamism of the movements and the greater forcefulness with which the contenders perform, are helping to gain ground on the big gloves.
This is the reality of boxing at the broadcast level. There is a lack of global idols, young people are finding it hard to get hooked, and there are more and more outside players trying to take market share. For the time being, if no new legend emerges, we will have to settle for Tyson vs Paul.