The much-hyped bout between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul was billed as the “Fight of the Century,” but in reality, it was the fight we deserved—because, as a society, we’ve come to accept freak shows and spectacles over genuine athleticism. Let’s be honest: the fight was not about skill, technique, or even the glory of the sport. It was about entertainment, and unfortunately, the fight felt like a sad display of just how far we’ve fallen.
Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers of all time, is nearly 60 years old. Seeing him in the ring against a much younger, relatively inexperienced Jake Paul was disturbing. Tyson, once a fearsome fighter, looked like a shadow of his former self. His legs wobbled, his mouthpiece fell out, and at one point, he appeared to be struggling to stay upright, fighting more to survive than to win. It was a sad reminder that no matter how legendary someone once was, age catches up with us all. Yet somehow, we watched this fight play out as if it was normal.
This fight wasn’t about two fighters competing at the peak of their abilities. It was a spectacle—a circus designed to draw in as many viewers as possible. People didn’t tune in because they wanted to see the best fight; they tuned in because they wanted to see something shocking, something unexpected. The sad truth is that fans weren’t hoping to see a fair contest—they were hoping to see Jake Paul get knocked out, or they just wanted the drama of watching a 58-year-old man fight a 20-something in a sport that is meant for the physically peak. It was more about the storyline than the sport itself.
Jake Paul, for all his criticisms, is a master of promotion. He’s turned his name into a brand and knows how to sell a fight, even if it’s not a fight that belongs in a professional sports setting. People don’t care if he’s a true boxer or not—they care that he brings the views. Whether it’s his trash-talking or his ability to generate controversy, he’s done what few others could: make a massive profit by turning boxing into a spectacle. And that’s the problem. In the process, the sport of boxing itself gets lost in the noise.
There’s no denying that Jake Paul made a lot of money off of this fight, and so did others. He gave Mike Tyson a paycheck, brought attention to lesser-known fights on the undercard, and even helped highlight women’s boxing with a thrilling fight between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano. But these positives don’t outweigh the fact that the main event was a circus. The fight wasn’t about boxing—it was about creating a story people wanted to see, whether it was entertaining or not. This is a dangerous precedent to set, as it opens the door for more gimmick fights in the future.
The reality is that we’ve already seen a shift in combat sports. The desire for freak show matches is only growing. It’s no longer about watching the best fighters in the world; it’s about watching whatever generates the most views. The future of combat sports could very well be dominated by these kinds of fights, where retired legends like Tyson fight people who don’t belong in the ring at all. We could even see people in prosthetics or other unusual scenarios fighting for entertainment. And as long as people keep tuning in, this trend will continue to grow.
This is just the beginning of a disturbing new era in combat sports. Society has already shown that it’s willing to accept these kinds of spectacles—where people’s safety and wellbeing are secondary to entertainment. Imagine the future where fighters in their 60s, or worse, people with no training at all, are put in the ring for the sake of a good show. It’s not hard to see how quickly things could spiral out of control.
The Tyson vs. Paul fight was a wake-up call. It wasn’t just a sad spectacle—it was a sign of things to come. If we continue down this path, we’ll see more bizarre matchups and more fighters put at risk for our amusement. It’s all part of a larger trend where entertainment comes before ethics, where making money off of danger and humiliation is the new norm.
At the end of the day, this was the fight we deserved. We, as a society, have shown we’re willing to pay for these kinds of shows, even when they compromise the integrity of the sport. We’ve traded in genuine competition for a circus, and as long as it’s profitable, it’s only going to get worse. The real question is, how much further are we willing to go?
