Mike Tyson and Jake Paul’s fight is a grift and a betrayal of boxing, writes OLIVER HOLT

Let’s be honest about Mike Tyson’s ‘fight’ with Jake Paul in Dallas on Friday night – it has about as much relevance to the sport as an episode of the Great British Bake-Off.

It’s the Party Hole at LIV Las Vegas, where the attraction is the dancing DJ, not the wave.

It’s a Demolition Derby at a state fair. It’s Jesse Owens racing a horse. It’s Kanye West throwing the first pitch.

It’s a kid trying to score a penalty against a guy dressed as a dinosaur at half-time at the Emirates Stadium.

All sports are entertainment, but not all entertainment is sports. I wouldn’t argue that Tyson-Paul isn’t entertainment because I would be there if I could and I’ll probably pay to watch it on television.

Mike Tyson’s return to the ring on Friday is entertainment, but should not be considered sport

The former world champion at 58 will face YouTuber boxer Jake Paul, 27, in Dallas

We’re all talking about it too. And many of us write about it. But it’s not a sport. At least not for me.

Tyson-Paul is a fraud. It’s a barrel full of dollar bills, dressed in sportswear, to entice you. Its only value lies in its cultural significance, as it is unfortunately a signpost for the direction the sport is heading.

It is yet another signal of the subjugation of sport to money and the triumph of image over competition. And while it’s sometimes hard to admit it, maybe it’s also a reference to what a new Netflix generation of sports fans wants.

It is a fight of eight two-minute rounds, tailored to the age’s shrinking attention span. It’s a highlight package. It’s bite-sized chunks, though Evander Holyfield might not appreciate that inference.

The ‘fight’, at AT&T Stadium, is a sister to the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo is still one of the greatest players in the world, as he scores goals and poses in the Saudi Pro League.

It’s a brother to the idea that Inter Miami is one of the 32 best teams in the world because Lionel Messi plays for them and should qualify for next summer’s Club World Cup even though they were just eliminated in the first round of the MLS. playoffs.

The Tyson vs. Paul fight is a sister to the idea that Cristiano Ronaldo is still one of the greatest players in the world as he scores goals and poses in the Saudi Pro League

The event seems to be a nod to what a new Netflix generation of sports fans wants

The fight has pathos and nostalgia for a fighter once known as the Baddest Man on the Planet

It’s a cousin of WWE, of Tiger and Rory’s TGL golf league, and of those terrible celebrity football matches where someone calling himself iShowSpeed ​​actually seems to think he’s a player. It’s a sport gone wrong. It’s the dystopia of sports.

Tyson-Paul carries poignant elements of pathos and nostalgia and evokes a sense of disgust in many observers, but that’s not enough to make it a sport either.

Friendly football matches are not a sport because the result does not matter. The same goes for the pre-season tours that Premier League clubs undertake every summer. They are not sports. These are commercial exercises that you have to continue for money.

That’s why American television executives are so eager to bring regular-season Premier League matches to the United States: because they’re real.

Look, I’m not saying it doesn’t take courage to get in the ring with Mike Tyson. It takes courage to get in the ring with anyone, let alone the fighter once known as the baddest man on the planet. I got scared just by asking him a question at a press conference.

But I’m not sure Tyson-Paul is real. It’s weird. It’s sad. It’s a circus. It will make a lot of people a lot of money and it will generate a lot of hits on social media. But that doesn’t make it a sport. It makes it a betrayal of the sport.

It’s a show and an extravaganza. It’s a red carpet. It’s a photo opportunity. it’s a marketing exercise. It’s an earner. It’s a shouting match and a chance to make an attitude and get promoted.

The event is an opportunity to profile and promote itself, but it will make people a lot of money

Paul first found fame performing stunts and pranks, but on Friday we’ll be pulling the prank

And even though the rematch between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano is the highest-level matchup on offer Friday night in Texas, the night will be a massive celebration of America’s new Donald Trump-Elon Musk-Joe Rogan manosphere.

It is an offshoot of the sport. It’s something based on sport. It is a leech that clings to a host and sucks for all it is worth. I hope neither man gets hurt, but other than that I’m not sure I care about the outcome because the outcome doesn’t matter.

Instinctively I would like Tyson to win, I think, because he was once a great sportsman. And if he beats Paul at the age of 58, with a string of serious medical episodes behind him, it will at least expose once and for all the emptiness of so-called sporting careers built on the quicksand of modern celebrity. .

Jake Paul first found fame performing stunts and pranks. The joke will be on us on Friday night.