Mike Tyson Amid The Increasingly Favored Boxing Circus Controversy

JAKARTA - Mike Tyson's big name has never faded, even when his career began to recede. This week, the name of Tyson, who is now 55 years old, is back in the spotlight, after he was rumored to be having an exhibition fight against the famous YouTuber who turned boxer, Jake Paul.

According to various reports that appeared on January 17, the exhibition duel between the former heavyweight champion and the new face will be held in Las Vegas this year. The value of the playful match was also reported to be no joke, 50 million US dollars or around Rp. 703 billion! Both parties are said to have agreed.

Tyson, who is the youngest heavyweight world champion in history, has rushed to issue a denial about the duel agreement.

"This is new to me. I just saw Jake in St. Barths and he never mentioned it," Tyson wrote on his social media platform in response to the news written by The Sun.

Mike Tyson does not deny that he has met Jake, when the former world champion had an exhibition fight against Roy Jones Jr in Los Angeles on November 28, 2020. The interesting question is, will Tyson really turn down the challenge from Jake, who is 30 years his junior. ?

The presence of alternative media, social media has indeed changed many human lives. The way people communicate changes, the way they socialize changes, and the way they work changes. Jake who challenges Tyson is one of the culprits.

Jake's profession with his brother, Logan Paul is a youtuber. The accounts of the brothers on various social media platforms are followed by tens of millions of people, selling hard. Jake's account alone has more than 20 million followers. The way the brothers marketed their accounts was known to be strange, even extreme and violated legal signs. Finally, Jake was charged with a lawsuit in Puerto Rico for riding a motorbike on the beach, and then uploaded it on his Youtube account. Puerto Rico law prohibits motorized vehicles from crossing the beach, in order to protect the wildlife habitat there, especially turtles.

Jake's idea to jump into professional boxing was because he was following in the footsteps of his older brother, Logan. Mid-2018 Logan got the idea to box against the famous British YouTuber, Olajide Olayenka Williams or commonly known as KSI. The match was packed as an amateur in Manchester, England August 25 2018. Their duel was broadcast for a fee via the YouTube channel. It turned out that amateur boxing was selling well.

Until a month after the day of the fight, Logan vs KSI was watched by 115 million people, most of whom were their followers. On match day, as many as 25,000 people came to Manchester Arena to watch the amateur boxing circus, and paid!

British promoter Eddie Hearn saw an opportunity. Through his promotion efforts, Matchroom Boxing, Hearn offered a rematch. The second match of Logan vs KSI was held in Los Angeles on November 9, 2019. The second match was packaged as professional boxing, not an exhibition because it was officially recorded and under the supervision of the California State Athletic Commission's professional sports authority.

The duel also sold well, although it wasn't sold on a pay-per-view basis via YouTube. The live broadcast is hosted by DAZN, a British streaming television channel. Its sales in 2019 ranked third in DAZN boxing impressions, behind Anthony Joshua vs Andy Ruiz II and Canelo Alvarez vs Sergey Kovalev.

The success made the management of the Paul brothers addicted. Jake also jumped into professional boxing. On January 30, 2020, Jake made his pro boxing debut, facing fellow Youtuber AnEson Gib from England in Miami, Florida. Jake won the first round by knockout.

After that his interest in boxing grew. He then challenged former NBA star, Nate Robinson and won again by knockout. Then he challenged former UFC fighter Ben Askren, winning by knockout again. The last time Jake fought twice against former UFC star, Tyrone Woodley, with wins and knockouts.

Boxing duels between top Youtubers against former boxing and MMA champions are often considered a "boxing circus", playful boxing. In fact, matches like that still sell. Logan Paul's duel against Floyd Mayweather Jr in Miami, Florida on June 6, 2021, for example, which sold well even though it was considered a slapstick duel. Mayweather reportedly earned no less than 30 million US dollars as a fee plus a percentage of broadcast sales, while Logan 250 thousand US dollars plus a percentage of broadcast sales. The crowd that came to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami also reached 25,000, including former world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield among them.

Circus boxing and other fighting sports are nothing new. On June 26, 1976 Muhammad Ali held a boxing circus against Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in Tokyo.

Larry Holmes also had a boxing exhibition at Istora Senayan, Jakarta on March 18, 1990, against the Whiterspoon Team. Tickets to watch the boxing circus Holmes vs Whiterspoon at the ringside, at that time sold 1000 USD and sold.

Former world champion from Indonesia, Chris John has also held a boxing exhibition against the Governor of NTT, Viktor Laiskodat. However, the action was not packaged professionally.

WWF's professional free wrestling also deserves to be categorized as a sports circus. The fight in the event is not real, although WWF wrestlers train hard to perform acrobatic actions in a specially designed ring. After all, the skit was selling well all over the world. It even made parents in Indonesia worried, because their children participated in dangerous actions like WWF wrestlers who were popularly known as smack down.

Mayweather was also a guest star in the WWF wrestling circus. Tyson has also been a guest star.

Nowadays with increasingly popular social media, boxing circus is a necessity that is difficult to avoid. Top YouTubers like Logan Paul, KSI, and Jake Paul easily become more popular by pretending to be a boxer, facing old boxers who have retired but still have big names.

A painful reality for most professional combat sports players. UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, for example, is cynical about the behavior of boxing circus performers. According to Ngannou's view, boxing circus actors do not bring positive results for the sport of boxing other than earning a lot of money by using boxing, but relying on popularity outside of boxing.

Swedish heavyweight boxer, Otto Wallin has a different view. According to him, professional boxers should actually open up, be more literate with what is called promotion. Boxers should take full advantage of social media to make them more popular. This method is expected to be able to compete with YouTubers who are now mastering pro boxing, with low skills but high salaries.

Indonesian boxer former PABA champion, David Koswara also has a positive view of the boxing circus trend. For him, professional boxing is to make money, not to maintain idealism. So it's not a taboo subject to be modified in any form, as long as the boxing activity produces results.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, any form of spectacle, including professional boxing, has receded. The decline in boxing and professional performances in the world reached more than 60 percent, which of course had an impact on the income of boxers.

Holding a boxing circus is not an ideal solution to improve the quality of boxing. But at least it becomes an alternative source of income for boxers, as well as entertainment for those who like it. Either temporarily, or forever.

It is not impossible that such shows will be more and more popular in the future. Moreover, big names like Mike Tyson have started to be carried around.