The Face Of Boxing
Yesterday at 11:00 PM
Back in January 2020, Jake Paul was making his professional boxing debut opposite some other YouTuber whose name I don't care to remember.
This Friday (Nov. 15, 2024), conversely, he'll face perhaps the most famous living name in boxing, former Heavyweight champion of the world Mike Tyson, and he'll do so on the most popular global streaming service. An insane amount of people are going to watch this fight, though it's unclear if Netflix will ever release the actual number. According to various reports and rumors, Paul is expected to earn about $40 million for his efforts. Oh, and he co-owns the Most Valuable Promotion running the entire event.
By most metrics, Jake Paul has won in his attempts to establish himself not only as a professional but as a monster star in boxing. In less than five years, he's built his way up to being a genuine star with actual champions on his undercard. After Friday, he'll be the best paid and most-watched pugilist in the United States. Terence Crawford is certainly America's top boxer and might just be the pound-for-pound best on the planet, but he's not making as much as "The Problem Child" and fewer people are watching his fights.
In terms of being a prizefighter and securing top dollar, Paul has won clearly. The ultimate goal of any sportsman is to be the best, but prizefighting is a different endeavor. The best prizefighter is the person making the most money to fight the worst opponent, thus enabling him to absorb little damage and continue making the most money. In this, Paul has put on a masterclass in careful career management. Each step of the way, he's lined himself up to win progressively bigger fights against decidedly beatable opponents.
Mike Tyson is not an exception to this trend. Regardless of prior greatness, we're talking about a 58 year old who has lived hard and looked worn in the ring two decades ago. He should not at all be expected to beat a (possibly juiced up) 27 year old with the best training money can buy.
What's brilliant about this match up from the Paul perspective is that it takes a certain amount of combat sports knowledge to understand that great older fighters routinely get savaged by young mediocre ones. This fight and its placement on Netflix are directly designed to appeal to that casual base who don't understand this simple combat sports fact.
A big win on this kind of stage really opens up Paul's future options, which is timely because he was running out of small MMA fighters to beat up. Knocking out Tyson could propel Paul into match ups that have previously been laughed off, the McGregor, Canelo, and Mayweather tier of high-profile opponents.
At some point, the Paul boxing arc has to peak and the story has to end, because he's not an elite boxer by any stretch of the imagination. If he lines himself up for a nine-figure payout grand finale, it's hard to call that anything else other than a massive victory.
