The announced July 20th bout between former undisputed heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and cruiserweight prospect Jake Paul is now being planned by the event’s organizers to be held under professional boxing rules. Despite the bout having come under scrutiny due to the 27-year old Paul facing a former professional three decades his senior in Tyson, there appears to be a clear push to see the bout align itself with professional boxing―regardless of the discrepancy in ages between the two headlining competitors suggesting it should remain an exhibition.
As was illustrated in a previous article, neither Mike Tyson or Jake Paul stand to gain much from fighting each other despite the event set to be broadcasted to a record number of viewers/subscribers through Netflix, and held in one of the biggest stadiums in the United States at the AT & T Stadium which is owned by the Dallas Cowboys NFL franchise.
While it had been thought that the bout would leave out any association to professional boxing with it being expected to be ruled as an exhibition, combat sports reporter Ariel Helwani revealed that the organizers of the event were actively pursuing for the unasked fight to be held under professional boxing rules.
“They’re still working on a few important details based on the conversations that I’ve had,” Helwani said during the live podcast show of the MMA Hour which he hosts weekly.
“They [the organizers] want [a] pro [bout]… obviously that is up to the Texas [boxing] commission, we wait and see.
“I’m told heavyweight rounds―[they are] working on that as well. I was told there’s absolutely no headgear involved. This is going to look like your typical boxing match; it’s just [an] exhibition like Mike’s last fight was against Roy Jones Jr. in November 2020.“
Helwani’s reports seem to suggest that the fight will still be an exhibition but subject to the normal rules of professional boxing including two- or three-minute rounds, no headgear and all the rest of the conditions professional boxers go through.
This essentially will mean that the Tyson-Paul fight will not count on either fighter’s professional records, however for those not truly vested in professional boxing, viewers and attendees of the fight will likely not see much of a difference if the two Americans will indeed under professional boxing rules.
The revelation of the planned bout remaining an exhibition still stands to threaten the sport with the large amount of spectators expected to witness the bout―a complement of the AT&T Stadium’s wide amount of space and Netflix’s rumored subscriber base of more than 260 million―likely not being avid boxing fans or knowledgeable about the sport.
With no substantial marketing expected from the organizers to point out that the fight will be an exhibition―as this will only deter those interested, the impression of those tuning into the fight may see Mike Tyson and Jake Paul as representatives of the sport rather than actual competitive boxers.
There are also concerns surrounding the nature of the exhibition, with Mike Tyson’s 2020 bout against Roy Jones Jr reportedly having had a “no knockout” clause to prevent both fighters from taking too much damage as the match that wasn’t sanctioned as a professional fight. Though their bout was held without headgear, the minutes had been limited to just two, and there had been no judges present to score the fight.
As professional boxing concerns the allowance of both fighters to be and fight at their best, the Tyson-Paul match further proves itself to be a more caricature of an actual boxing match yet will nonetheless be pushed as a significant contest.
To put things into perspective, boxing holds numerous significant pro bouts every year yet all of the fights set to be held this year will not gain the same attention as the exhibition between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
To make matters worse, the Texas boxing commission, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR), is still contemplating sanctioning the bout as a professional match, according to Helwani. If the Tyson-Paul fight is officially ruled a professional bout, boxing is unlikely to prosper as a whole as the interest in the fight will not necessarily transfer towards this intrigue crossing over into actual professional boxing matches.
The fight has all the means to be a mere one-off spectacle that will feature two mismatched opponents step into the ring for an insignificant fight that can only drain down both fighters’ reputation rather than boost them. With Tyson being close to retirement age, and Paul in his apparent prime years, neither of the two fighters appear to be as deserving of the attention they will surely get as opposed to actual and active professional boxers.
However, as the boxing industry is based on entertainment and not necessarily competitiveness, there may always be such spectacles that can endear itself to the public. The important thing is that this bout will be framed as the exhibition and one-off show that it is, without it impacting boxing in any way but positive. Only in that manner can both competitors somewhat recuperate their lost reputation from choosing to engage in what could be easily regarded as a “circus bout”, rather than a legacy-defining match as the sport of boxing has displayed on countless occasions.
