Chris Mannix knows a thing or two about boxing. It’s the reason that Rich Eisen turned to The Volume host the morning after Netflix announced it would be the exclusive home of a boxing spectacle featuring Jake Paul and Mike Tyson.
“I think this has the potential to be the most viewed boxing event ever,” Mannix said without hesitation.
One of social media’s biggest stars and one of the biggest names in the history of the sport stepping into the ring. Who cares what we get? Who cares if it’s even an official fight? All of the conditions are right to draw a huge audience.
Reports of boxing’s demise are often exaggerated and not uncommon. People that don’t watch many fights are always happy to tell you that the sport is dying and point to the rising popularity of the UFC as the reason why.
The sport isn’t dying. It just doesn’t enjoy the mainstream coverage and attention that it got in Tyson’s heyday. Whatever it is we want to call what Tyson and Paul are doing, it’s going to put the sport in the spotlight for at least one night this summer.
Sports fans don’t take kindly to change. Look at all of the handwringing over baseball’s new rules before the season began last spring and we actually saw them in action. Look at nearly all of the reaction to the changing landscape of college sports. Traditions matter to a lot of fans. They take the games seriously and demand anyone with a stake in them do too.
It’s why spectacle can be something of a bad word to some. But sometimes, spectacle is exactly what is needed.
Fans may not fully understand the purpose of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, but the games brought people to their televisions. The final between the Lakers and Suns had the highest ratings for a regular season game outside of Christmas Day since 2018. That’s a big win for a sport that most of the country doesn’t pay attention to until after the holidays.
The NBA absconded with tradition. It didn’t just embrace spectacle. It created one, asking ESPN and TNT to share talent and experiment with crossover coverage. Nothing but time can make an event like the In-Season Tournament a cherished tradition for fans, but the league didn’t hesitate to do things it thinks fans will want to see more again in the future.
Alternate broadcasts in the NFL are no different. While the league has never been more popular on TV, it’s fighting to boost youth football participation. Between kids not wanting to play football and young people watching TV entirely differently from their parents, the NFL had to get creative to find a new generation of fans. That’s where SpongeBob Squarepants and Toy Story come in. Kid-friendly broadcasts may draw an eye-roll from some, but those aren’t the people that matter to the leagues and networks.
Boxing purists may hate what Jake Paul and Mike Tyson are planning for their fight. England’s The Daily Star quotes British heavyweight fighter Derek Chisora calling the event “a sparring match” and “a f***ing joke,” citing plans to use 18 ounce gloves and headgear.
Netflix and the fighters know they can’t escape that kind of criticism. They also know that Chisora and devoted boxing fans don’t need any sort of spectacle to be interested in the sport.
The streaming giant will be the one drawing all the eyeballs for Paul vs. Tyson, but every network with a contract to carry boxing matches will be rooting for the fight to draw a huge audience. The bigger the audience, the more likely the event creates interest in boxing beyond just the spectacle.
This is why sports and networks take chances. One event is only one event, but the hope is that they light a spark in someone new that will keep coming back to the game over and over again.
