Mike Tyson to fight Jake Paul

The trailer for Netflix’s latest multimillion-dollar venture starts with a dramatic drumbeat, the slap of glove on pad, and a familiar Brooklyn drawl. “He’s a manufactured killer,” says Mike Tyson, with almost cartoon relish. “I am a natural-born killer.”

The camera then cuts to the man he will face in the early hours of Saturday UK time, the influencer Jake Paul. “We’re going to war,” predicts Paul, who made his fortune filming pranks such as I Sunk My Friend’s Car And Surprised Him With A New One before an even more lucrative pivot into boxing. “And he’s getting knocked out.”

Forget the fact that Tyson is 58 and has not fought professionally since quitting on his stool against Kevin McBride nearly 20 years ago.

Or that the 27-year-old Paul is a relative novice, who lost to the Love Island star Tommy Fury last year. More than 60,000 fans are expected to flock to the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas to watch the fight in person, with millions more streaming it online.

But as the two men prepare to square off over eight two-minute rounds in exchange, rumours suggest, for more than $20m (£15.5m) each, the questions linger starkly in the Texas air. Is this merely a grisly pantomime?

Or should it be seen as a harbinger of what lies ahead?

And, more intriguing, why is Netflix throwing millions at this meeting of boxing’s old world with its new YouTube iteration? Especially when almost everyone in the sport believes it is a terrible idea.

Barry McGuigan, who was in his prime 40 years ago, sums up boxing’s unease particularly eloquently. “I’m 63 and Tyson’s only five years behind me,” he tells the Observer. “So the idea of him boxing any guy, even if he’s only ordinary, is just so wrong at that age. You are your reputation. That’s what people remember. And I remember Mike Tyson as a wrecking machine.

“He really was one of the most dangerous heavyweights that ever laced on gloves. There’s no doubt about that. And I don’t want people to say in 20 years’ time: ‘Oh, that’s that guy that had that sham of a fight with that YouTuber.’”

McGuigan is generous to Paul, saying he can “obviously box a bit”. But that, for him, makes the risks even greater. “A 58-year-old man shouldn’t be fighting,” he adds. “He just shouldn’t. At that age your punch resistance invariably disappears. And while we see all these clips of Tyson doing the pads, that’s not real. What’s real is sparring against good quality opposition and seeing how you look then. You can be sure he’s not doing that given his age.”

A very different perspective is offered by Adam Kelly, president of media at the global sports marketing agency IMG. Kelly accepts there are doubters, but predicts that Tyson v Paul has “the potential to break some of the all-time best ratings, and be one of the most viewed boxing matches of all time”.…….

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2...ke-paul-boxing-netflix?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other