I’ve been covering the sport of boxing professionally for 27 years, and, as crazy as it is to type these words, Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson is, in some regards, the biggest boxing match of that entire span.
The viewing audience for Friday night’s fight from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be enormous — not nearly on par with a Super Bowl, but quite possibly equal to the next-biggest sporting event on the list.
And so, in turn, the betting interest is humongous. Even people who’ve never watched Paul box in any of his 11 professional bouts, or who weren’t alive the last time Tyson held a major heavyweight title, seem to have strong conviction as to whether the 27-year-old neophyte is going to get the better of the 58-year-old living legend. Or if the former “Baddest Man on the Planet” is going to butcher the former Disney Channel star.
There are three states, however, that regulate sports betting but will not permit wagering on this particular contest. Regulators in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Vermont have all given Paul vs. Tyson consideration and decided that licensed sportsbooks in their states cannot take bets on it, owing to concerns about the integrity of the contest. Regulators in Pennsylvania and Vermont in particular have flagged the 31-year age difference as a concern.
They’re in the minority — thirty-some-odd states are allowing customers to legally stake money on the fight. In this case, though, I feel that minority viewpoint is correct. We just don’t know enough about the “integrity” — to use every sports league’s favorite word — of the competition in Paul-Tyson. The risk of valid complaints from customers afterward outweighs the upside of permitting bets.
Bigger than Mayweather-Pacquiao?
Doubling back to the enormity of the event — I am certain Paul vs. Tyson will be watched live by more people than any boxing match since at least the ‘70s or ‘80s, That was the last time major heavyweight title fights still occasionally made their way to free network television. Is it truly “bigger” than Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao in 2015, or even Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor in 2017? Or, for that matter, Evander Holyfield’s rematch with Tyson in ’97? Or Tyson vs. Michael Spinks in ’88, or Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler in ’87?
No, not really. But those fights were all on pay-per-view or closed-circuit. Mayweather-Pacquiao holds the record for any pay-per-view event in boxing, MMA, wrestling, entertainment, etc., at 4.6 million purchases.
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