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

It’s also an activity that reveals two people who just want to fight over money.

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

Tyson is among the few people in sports history to become an icon for their brutality in the ring. Paul is part of a new generation of athletes who are attracting attention on social networks.

His fame, as an actor and YouTuber turned boxer, brought attention to him and brought in huge sums of money.

Tyson’s fame hurts people in the ring.

The fight should print money for event promotersadd more subscribers to Netflix — 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 baddest man on the planet.”

It is also expected to increase 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 make $40 million and take out a legend,” Paul said at a press conference this summer.

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

Basic rules

The biggest question surrounding Tyson-Paul is how it became the biggest boxing event of the year, according to promoters and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. call for a sanctioned fight.

The eight-round fight with two-minute rounds and 14-ounce gloves reflects an exhibition. Most marquee fights last 10 or 12 rounds, with younger or journeyman fighters involved in eight-round bouts. The standard for boxing gloves is 10 or 12 ounces.

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

So what does this mean for boxing? People who have been playing the fighting game for over 30 years have a hard time making sense of it.

“It’s something that has no answer,” said boxing promoter Don King, considered one of the best in the history of the sport. “It doesn’t really mean anything. Mike is one of the bravest and greatest fighters of all time. Jake is a great follower, he has a great base. You face what is real.

Perhaps that’s the point of this fight: the spectacle.

This won’t be the first time boxing has been connected to a show.

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

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

On that card, Paul knocked out former NBA player Nate Robinson, prompting musical artist Snoop Dogg, who was one of the commentators for the fight, to break out in 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 skater known for hiring someone to injure her rival Nancy Kerrigan in the 1990s, decided to box when her skating career stalled. Harding fought Melissa Yans in a strip club parking lot in 2003.

“We have always done exhibitions, the three-ring circus. It’s 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 an AARP guy who makes all the rules, it’s messed up. I’m not against this happening. There is no standardized oversight of state sport. boxing in the United States of America.

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

The health scare did not deter the TDLR from allowing Tyson to fight.

Tela Mange, communications manager for the licensing agency, said fighters over the age of 36 undergo additional medical testing and must submit “favorable results from an EEG and EKG test before being allowed to participate at a combat sports competition in Texas.

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

“Can we agree that a 58-year-old icon who smokes a lot of weed, fighting a guy who does nothing but stay in shape, that should be called an exhibition,” DiBella said. “I’ll watch it.”

And that’s the point.

Is this a good thing?

Netflix offers the fight to its 282.7 million subscribers and expects that number to increase as interest in the fight increases.

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

There were also two fights from Mexican star Canelo Alvarez, the biggest draw at the moment.

But here comes Tyson-Paul, with the expected massive audience.

“This brings Netflix in and it will be broadcast to a global audience,” said Bob Arum, like King, one of the sport’s top promoters for more than 30 years. “It’s good for boxing. This doesn’t seem like a great fight with Mike being older and Jake not being a good fighter, but it’s a good card. This is a big plus for boxing. This will attract a great audience, which is what the sport needs.

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

“There’s a lot of interest and enthusiasm,” said Stephen Espinoza, a former Showtime sports director who plans to attend the fight. “Mike is an icon. Jake is committed to growing the sport. The craze is good for the sport of boxing. The map is very good. I’m sure boxers are upset that Jake has this platform, but a lot of fighters get attention because of it.

Friday evening will tell us a lot about Paul’s power of attraction. AT&T Stadium’s capacity could reach 70,000, setting a record for a boxing match in Texas.

You can question this type of fight, but you can’t question the marketing, money and attention it will bring to boxing.

Main fight card

The main card begins with the start of the Netflix live stream at 7 p.m.:

– Neeraj Goyat vs. Whindersson Nunes

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

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

– Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson

Undercard

The preliminary card will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on Most Valuable Promotions’ 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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