Mike Tyson vs Jake Paul: What’s behind the celebrity boxing craze?

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Mike Tyson, nan 58-year-old erstwhile heavyweight champion who has precocious recovered from a tummy ulcer, is group to look 27-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul successful a boxing lucifer nan AT&T Stadium successful Arlington, Texas connected Friday.

With an eye-watering $40m up for grabs successful nan fight’s “purse” and nary title belts connected nan line, nan showdown, which has been approved by nan Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, has drawn condemnation from nan boxing organization for being a merchandise of personage civilization that immoderate spot arsenic devaluing nan creation of this sport.

Friday’s lucifer marks nan latest successful a drawstring of caller unorthodox matchups involving celebrities and erstwhile professionals.

How did we get to a constituent erstwhile a erstwhile master recovering from sick wellness will look disconnected against a man 31 years his inferior successful a boxing ringing — and perchance tie millions of viewers astir nan world?

When did nan personage boxing craze begin?

The conception of a personage boxing lucifer has been astir for decades, but until recently, it had been constricted to kindness events and short-lived novelty TV shows.

The value and strength of these matches ranged wildly from an unexpectedly feisty matchup successful 2002 betwixt UK comedians Ricky Gervais and Bob Mortimer to a tepid but symbolic bout successful 2015 betwixt US Senator Mitt Romney and five-times world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

In 2017, nan then-UFC lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, collapsed pinch normal erstwhile he fought boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr successful a crossover conflict that was billed, “The Money Fight”.

Mayweather was guaranteed $100m and McGregor $30m for nan fight. Non-disclosure agreements meant nan last payouts person not been published, but reports from nan fighters’ camps afterwards propose nan payouts were overmuch higher than anticipated.

That aforesaid year, an amateur boxing arena successful London pitted YouTube influencers against each different pinch a header conflict betwixt KSI – a 31-year-old British influencer and musician, and Joe Weller, 28, besides a British influencer and musician.

That started a inclination pinch Jake Paul, who made a sanction for himself by posting prank videos online, facing disconnected against KSI nan pursuing twelvemonth and past against Mayweather successful a 2021 accumulation match.

Why do celebrities and ex-professionals want to measurement into nan ring?

Jake Paul has been clear astir his privilege – money.

“I’m present to make $40m and sound retired a legend,” he told a news convention successful August.

Friday’s lucifer will beryllium exclusively televised by nan streaming work Netflix, a move that has hiked up payouts successful nan realm of blockbuster master boxing matches.

For example, nan undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk pocketed astir $45m from his past conflict against British boxer Tyson Fury successful Saudi Arabia successful May.

It will surely people a sizeable summation from Paul’s past conflict against British boxer Tommy Fury successful which, according to reports, Paul took location astir $3.2m.

Duke McKenzie, a erstwhile British boxer who has won world titles successful 3 weight classes, told Al Jazeera that, dissimilar Paul, Tyson’s information is apt not conscionable money.

“It’s his ego, thing more, thing less,” he said adamantly.

Tyson could find galore different ways to make money, including utilizing his fame to endorse products, indicating that nan erstwhile boxer is driven by a desire to relive past glories, McKenzie said.

The conflict had been primitively scheduled for July 20, but it was pushed backmost aft Tyson suffered a tummy ulcer flare-up.

This condition, coupled pinch his age, has McKenzie concerned that nan erstwhile champion is putting his ego earlier his health, he said.

“What we’re looking astatine is an old, shock-worn warrior who, unfortunately, still wants to relive his past.

“I wish he could locomotion distant from nan athletics pinch his caput held high, but his ego won’t fto him.”

What other is fuelling nan craze for personage boxing?

In 2023, nan inclination of personage fighting reached caller levels erstwhile Meta laminitis Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla laminitis and proprietor of social media level X, Elon Musk, appeared to work together to a “cage fight”.

Musk took to his ain level to denote that, pursuing conversations pinch Italy’s premier curate and civilization minister, “they person agreed connected an epic location”, adding, “everything successful camera framework will beryllium ancient Rome”.

Although nan lucifer ne'er came to fruition, nan section demonstrated really celebrated nan conception had become.

“The process of becoming highly able is simply a cutthroat benignant of title which unleashes a benignant of hyper-masculinity,” Caroline Knowles, a sociologist and Global Professorial Fellow astatine Queen Mary University of London, told Al Jazeera.

She said that nan aforesaid thrust – an aggravated will to win successful nan business world – lends itself to entering nan aforesaid high-stakes, competitory world of combat sport.

In her book, Serious Money: Walking Plutocratic London, Knowles studied nan behaviour of nan super-rich successful London.

She said that during her research, she recovered that activities astir group would person considered hobbies would beryllium taken overmuch much earnestly by those successful nan hyper-competitive world of multimillionaires and billionaires.

She recalled speaking pinch Russian oligarchs who were willing successful upland climbing, ever “trying to push nan limit” and competing to spot who could scope nan world’s highest peaks.

Knowles added that nan hubris of being successful a able elite tin make personification judge they tin do anything, including stepping into an octagon cage or fighting a erstwhile master boxer.

What does this mean for boxing?

From a business perspective, McKenzie said, personage matchups garner some money and liking successful boxing, but this has “devalued” nan athletics because nan standards of nan fighters do not “represent existent boxing”.

It’s an sentiment echoed by galore successful nan boxing world.

“If I was Jake Paul, I’d conscionable consciousness a small spot embarrassed, to beryllium honorable pinch you,” Eddie Hearn, 1 of nan sport’s best-known promoters, told BBC Sport successful October.

“This is dangerous, irresponsible and, successful my opinion, disrespectful to nan athletics of boxing,” Hearn added.

McKenzie runs his ain boxing gym and estimates that 80 percent of nan men who motion up for it “would emotion to beryllium Jake Paul”.

“Everybody that comes done my doorway thinks they tin beryllium a champion aft 3 aliases 4 fights,” he said.

He added that Paul’s fast-track, “big-money” way to fighting belies nan difficult activity and real-life intelligence and beingness struggle that boxers person to put into their craft, however.

“The reality is to beryllium a boxer, it takes a definite benignant of mentality. I tin retrieve getting up astatine 5 o’clock successful nan morning, going connected a 16 kilometre (10 miles) tally connected an quiet stomach, and past being successful nan gym astatine 2 o’clock,” he said.

Why person personage boxing matches been approved?

There are aggregate world sanctioning bodies successful boxing, resulting successful much than 100 titles being up for grabs and producing a convoluted array of aggregate world champions successful different weight categories.

There are 4 awesome organisations which punishment boxing matches: The World Boxing Association (WBA), nan World Boxing Council (WBC), nan International Boxing Federation (IBF) and nan World Boxing Organisation (WBO).

However, for those pinch a passing liking successful nan sport, nan strategy tin look confusing, and nan value of a azygous loop tin go diluted pinch truthful galore successful nan mix.

This disorder has boosted nan entreaty for immoderate of 1 blockbuster, winner-takes-all matchup betwixt 2 large names, experts said.

The personage boxing matches, which are not concerned pinch rankings aliases titles, only request to beryllium sanctioned by nan boxing committee of nan governing assemblage wherever nan arena is held – successful Tyson vs Paul’s case, nan Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

Although McKenzie said he sees nan ample number of titles up for grabs arsenic a problem successful boxing, he still sees societal media arsenic nan eventual driver down this latest craze.

He doubts nan conflict would person ever been sanctioned earlier nan property of societal media – but now, nan glamour and money it tin bring to nan athletics person altered nan scenery irreparably.

He fears that it will return personification for illustration an ageing Tyson aliases an inexperienced Paul getting earnestly wounded for nan entreaty of personage boxing to fade.

The conflict will return spot connected Friday, November 15 pinch nan arena scheduled to statesman astatine 7pm section clip (01:00 GMT connected November 16).

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