Imagine how big Mike Tyson would be right now if he were going to be 28 on July 20 when he fights Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, instead of the 58 he'll actually be.
Tyson is the biggest draw and most popular boxer other than Muhammad Ali in the sport's long and colorful history. When Tyson was routinely selling 1.5 million to 2 million pay-per-views per event in the mid-to-late 1990s, the universe of connected homes was much smaller than it was when Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. followed him and became massive draws.
Tyson was doing more with less than anyone in the pay-per-view era.
When he was fighting on HBO in the mid-to-late 1980s, half of the homes that were subscribed to HBO were watching his fights. And that success carried over to pay-per-view, and even time hasn't dulled it.
In 2020, Tyson headlined a pay-per-view card in Los Angeles in which he boxed an exhibition bout against Roy Jones Jr. That bout sold 1.6 million, an extraordinary amount for a show that was not only poorly promoted but didn't have much else to recommend it.
Paul fought on that show, brutally knocking out one-time NBA star Nate Robinson in the second round of their fight. And on July 20, it will be full circle when Paul and Tyson meet outside of Dallas in a bout that will stream on Netflix.
Tyson has begun to make the media rounds in the last week, and it's a much different man who is promoting the show.
When Tyson was in his prime, he said things like:
• "I always try to catch them right on the tip of the nose because I try to push the bone into the brain. I wanted to catch the guy and put him out with a punch cold, so I would have no complaints." -- Tyson after a win over Jesse Ferguson on Feb. 16, 1986.
• "My power is discombobutlatingly devastating. I could feel his muscle tissues collapse under my force. It's ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm."
• "I want to rip out his heart and feed it to Lennox Lewis. I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children." Tyson on Showtime after a win over Lou Savarese on June 24, 2000.
• "I just love to fight. I like to hurt people. I haven't lost that. I didn't lose it when I first got a bit of wealth and I haven't lost it now. The nature of my business is to hurt people."
He's a lot wiser now, and he understands the business that made him rich and famous much better.
Paul has received plenty of criticism, and deservedly so, for setting up a fight with a guy who will be 58 on July 20. Paul will be 27 when the bell rings.
If Paul is serious about becoming a world champion boxer, fighting a 58-year-old does nothing to help his cause. If he's looking to increase the size of his bank account, well, he couldn't have chosen a better opponent.
Tyson has long been complimentary of Paul, and noted his business acumen during an interview with Reuters' Alicia Powell.
"Why you think he wants to fight me and not anybody else?" Tyson said of Paul, who is 9-1 with six KOs. "Everybody wants to fight him. All the boxers want to fight him. But if he fought them the only people that will come are the people that like [Paul]. The other guys, their parents might not even come watch them. That's just keeping it real. They're too boring for their children to watch. It's like watching grass grow."
Boxing struggles to maintain its relevancy for many reasons, but few of them are willing to promote themselves. Mayweather wasn't a draw until it dawned on him that he needed to do things differently. He created the Money May persona and soon set all sorts of pay-per-view and box office records.
Not everyone has Tyson's punching power, which vaulted him into popularity, or his propensity for outlandish comments. But Tyson kept himself in the news and was highly accessible in his prime, far moreso than many of the elite boxers now.
It's why Tyson's podcast is so popular, and it's why Netflix is making its first steps into live sports.
"I'm 58 and what? I'm getting billions of views from just talking to somebody about fighting," Tyson said in the Reuters interview. "Everybody, even most of the athletes, they're jealous, that's whack. ... Who at 58 could sell out an 80,000-seat arena?"
Paul has a Midas touch for making money and figured out a way to manipulate the system in boxing to earn big bucks without fighting fearsome opposition, or many boxers at all. His pay-per-view sales were steadily declining until he boxed Nate Diaz, and then they went up. That was clearly because of Diaz's popularity.
But as popular as Diaz, the long-time UFC star, remains, he's only a fleck compared to Tyson.
Pau will prove nothing about his skills as a boxer with a win over Tyson. Beating up 58-year-old men means nothing. But it will raise his profile and it will dump millions into his bank account.
If you're wondering why they made the fight, that's your answer right there.
Amanda Westcott/Most Valuable Promotions
Jake Paul will make a lot of money when he fights Mike Tyson on July 20.