Jake Paul vs Mike Tyson live updates: Netflix boxing fight card latest, ring walks, predictions, times

A lot of you have got in touch to ask why we’re covering tonight’s fight.

💬 John J: “Where are your real boxing articles?”

💬 Felix C: “Every day I check The Athletic for boxing news and every day I am disappointed … boxing fans deserve to see our sport covered like every other major sport.”

💬 Oscar M, via email: “Why are you covering this fight? When there have been so many other good fights recently that you have not covered? I love The Athletic’s coverage and I have enjoyed The Athletic’s coverage on boxing in the past so it is a shame that this is the only coverage we get at the moment.”

We also received similar emails from Alex L, ML V and Sam H — thanks to all of you for getting in touch.

I should point out that we always attempt to provide live coverage of the biggest boxing cards, from world title fights (such as Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois’ over Anthony Joshua) to equally questionable — but crowd-pleasing — bouts (such as Francis Ngannou’s defeats by Fury and Joshua). Tonight’s fight is no different in that respect.

I think it’s also worth mentioning that we have previously covered both Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in some detail and their world title fight tonight is a contender for one of the biggest clashes in the history of women’s boxing.

But I’d also be lying if I didn’t acknowledge that audience interest always plays a factor in the events that we cover. It has to. And unfortunately there is no world in which coverage of, say, Jesse Rodriguez’s recent victory over Pedro Guevara generates the same amount of interest in whatever happens during Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson this evening.

The optimistic outlook is that high-profile ‘sports entertainment’ events such as these draw more eyeballs to the sport of boxing and turn young audiences into new fanbases. The pessimistic one is that they debase the sport, making it even harder for legitimate boxers to break through.

Either way: media outlets will always have their lenses pointed in the direction of the biggest stories and, tonight, the biggest story in sport will see the former undisputed world heavyweight champion of the world come out of retirement to fight a YouTuber-turned-boxer.