The sport of boxing is simultaneously headed in two very different directions. On one hand, boxing’s popularity is experiencing a resurgence and this generation of professional boxers is the most talented ever. Thanks to investments from the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), a department of the Saudi Arabian government, most boxing promotions can no longer keep their top fighters in strict contracts and feed them easy fights. Dream fights such as the heavyweight title unification bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have been realized through big spending by the GEA. On the other hand, many boxing promotions have resorted to nostalgia and gimmicks to attract viewers in recent years.
On Sept. 4, CSI Sports announced that boxing legends Mike Tyson and Floyd Mayweather Jr. agreed to an exhibition match taking place next year. Aside from the massive size difference between the fighters, their ages and physical condition make the prospect of this fight outrageous. Tyson is 59, coming off a depressing performance against influencer boxer Jake Paul in November of last year; the bout was originally scheduled to take place in July of 2024, but was postponed after Tyson suffered an ulcer flare-up. During the fight, Tyson wore a knee brace and commentators speculated on whether he was injured, citing his slow movement.
“I almost died in June. Had eight blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25 pounds and had to fight to get healthy,” Tyson said in a post he shared on Instagram after the fight.
As for 48 year old Floyd Mayweather Jr., the former champion has remained relatively active in the ring. In 2023, Mayweather fractured his hand in an exhibition match with Aaron Chalmers. In 2015, Mayweather underwent surgery on his right shoulder stating that the injury had been bothering him throughout his career. Mayweather last fought in an exhibition against John Gotti III, a pro MMA fighter and the grandson of the famous crime boss John Gotti. Not wanting to tarnish his 50-0 professional record, Mayweather only agrees to fight in exhibitions. In an exhibition match, the fight is not scored by judges and thus the fighters’ professional records are unaffected. Mayweather also tried his hand at influencer boxing when he faced off against famous vlogger Logan Paul in June of 2021.
Boxers coming out of retirement or clinging onto their careers has been a staple of the sport for decades. In a sport of big egos and big promotions, it is all too common for boxers to milk every last moment of their careers. However, in a day and age where social media personalities are a massive draw in the boxing space, more and more fighters are deciding to pick up the gloves again.
Jake Paul, who is widely regarded as the face of influencer boxing, serves as a prime example of dragging older fighters back into the ring. Paul’s name and personality have made him one of the biggest attractions in sports, dwarfing the popularity of most professional fighters. Paul’s formula for success is simple: lure in a big-name fighter who is past their prime or half his size (or both), hype the fight as his toughest matchup to date and laugh all the way to the bank. In his short time in boxing, Paul has faced off against retired UFC fighters Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz, Mike Perry, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley. When Paul isn’t knocking around MMA fighters who have little experience in a boxing ring, he cherry picks older, smaller boxers to further pad his record. Paul knocked out long retired pros Andre August and Ryan Bourland and bested 39-year-old Julio César Chávez Jr. in a fight that went the full 10 rounds.
Unfortunately, the practice of cashing in on the nostalgia of fight fans goes beyond greedy influencers. Fight promotions have recognized that the surest way to draw viewers is to sign as many big-name fighters as possible, regardless of their age or health. There is no better evidence of this than the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC). BKFC’s roster consists mostly of retired boxers, kickboxers and MMA fighters with the occasional influencer such as TikTok star Bryce Hall sprinkled in. Misfits Boxing, a startup boxing promotion run by YouTuber KSI has recruited retired UFC fighters including Darren Till, Luke Rockhold and Tony Ferguson.
“Boxing is a business” is an age-old saying among fans. Fighters’ opponents aren’t assigned to them like a football team receives their schedule from the league; fighter rankings are subjective rather than analytical. So the process of booking future fights can be influenced by the politics of the promotion, the fighter, the venue, city, state, etc. The bottom line for any sports league is to drive a profit, however, no league is more shameless about it than boxing promotions. Promotions have begun to integrate influencer fights and exhibition matches into their professional cards. In the aforementioned Paul vs. Tyson fight, elite boxers Amanda Serrano and Katie Taylor fought on the undercard of the event for the super lightweight championship. Two of the greatest female boxers of all time fighting for a world championship served as a warm-up act for the main event: a YouTuber duking it out with a boxer who is old enough to have grandchildren. The lesson learned from this is that talent doesn’t draw viewers anymore in boxing, personality and gimmicks do.
On Aug. 20, Paul announced an exhibition match against Gervonta “Tank” Davis, the current WBA lightweight champion. Davis is undefeated with the only taint on his record being a draw in his most recent fight against Lamont Roach Jr. If Davis does not relinquish his title, it will be a groundbreaking moment in the history of boxing: a sitting world champion opting to fight in an exhibition against an influencer rather than a deserving contender. If more top-tier boxers follow in Davis’ footsteps, the impact on legitimate boxing would be cataclysmic.
