According to the Oxford Dictionary, ‘nostalgia’ is defined as a ‘sentimental longing for the past.’
And make no mistake, there will be millions of people tuning in to watch Mike Tyson tonight in the hope he can roll back the years and add another brutal KO to his highlight reel. These people can remember Iron Mike’s fearsome peak, when he was a heavyweight nonpareil, a young athlete who collected the souls of his rivals with the same feral enthusiasm he collected championship belts and millions upon millions of dollars in prize money.
The fact that YouTube sensation-turned-professional boxer Jake Paul is boxing the youngest ever world heavyweight champion – and one-time ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’ - on Netflix this Friday is peak 2024.
This is an officially sanctioned eight-round bout - albeit with a few twists in terms of the rules - including two-minute stanzas instead of three and the use of larger than usual 14-oz gloves.
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Paul is 27 and seemingly in his sporting prime. Tyson is pushing 60. Indeed, it’s almost 40 years since Tyson made his professional debut and, for some context, in the year Paul was born – 1997 – Tyson was very much in turmoil, his fearsome aura banished for good after he was thrown out of his rematch with Evander Holyfield for biting off part of The Real Deal’s ear in one of the most macabre events in sporting history.
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Few will forget the mix of sadness and fatigue in Tyson’s eyes as he sat on the ring canvas, a totally spent force, looking up at journeyman Kevin McBride in 2005. That, we thought, was that. And now there’s this….
Some years ago, when Sugar Ray Robinson was making his comeback, sportswriter Jimmy Cannon called it “the red light district of sports.” And he was right. And to an extent it still is. So Tyson and Paul throwing hands in Texas is certainly not going to tarnish boxing’s reputation in any meaningful way.
As long as both men come out of the fight healthy, it could act as a real shot in the arm for the sport. Paul – the Disney kid who became a YouTube sensation – has a lot of eyes on him. And the power of social metrics cannot be underestimated.
This is entertainment, show business with blood, and as long as both combatants come out of it healthy and happy then everyone wins, right?
The boxing cognoscenti will cry foul and say that Tyson’s legacy is being tarnished yet further by partaking in this unique event. They will point to Roy Jones Jr – who Tyson shared a split draw with in a lockdown exhibition fight in 2020 – as an example of how an elite fighter’s legacy can be harmed by not walking away when the time is right.
For there is a real argument that had Jones Jr walked away when he won the WBA heavyweight world title by outpointing John Ruiz in 2003, he would be in any conversation now when it comes to the greatest fighter who ever lived.
The fact he carried on after Ruiz, winning and losing but ultimately deteriorating as an athlete until 2023 when his record was an impressive but not remarkable 66-10 (47), means he is rarely spoke about in such conversations.
Tyson himself however will be aware that you can’t eat legacy. Nor can you pay the mortgage with it.
Ignore the hyperbole. The sole reason this 58-year-old is fighting is economic, and while it’s incredible that he’s even in his situation given the hundreds of millions he has made and squandered over the last half a century, he is of (relatively) sound mind and in a free society he can do as he pleases.
Tyson has made the impossible possible many times in his life, rising from the Brownsville, Brooklyn gutter to become a genuine fistic phenomenon. But there are only so many times you can go to the well, and that rule applies even to the legends of the sport.
A natural-born killer but a faded fighter
The Ring Magazine via Getty Images
To be fair, Tyson has looked in great shape in the reels and short videos of his training that have been put out for public consumption . The cynic in me suggests it is more than coincidence however that the footage of him hitting the pads or heavy bag is not of the extended variety. Perception is everything in boxing, and fair play to both men for the way they have sold this fight.
Paul is no joke. He will enjoy height and reach advantages and will no doubt look to make it really physical against an opponent closer to his pension than his peak.
Mike is clearly talking a good game, saying in the lead up to this: "There is a fundamental difference between me and Jake. He's a manufactured killer.
"Television and papers made him a killer, he's manufactured.
"I'm a natural-born killer. That's the difference."
Nostalgia is fine if you are a song writer or a poet. Yet it is a dangerous place for a faded fighter to live, as Tyson could find out to his cost in in Arlington, Texas on Friday night.
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