Boxing teased us with an epic fourth quarter of fights in 2022 that included Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua, Gervonta Davis vs. Ryan Garcia, and Errol Spence Jr. vs. Terence Crawford.
We’re getting none of those fights. Thanks, boxing. We fell for your nonsense again.
But, somehow, the biggest fight that carries the most intrigue to close out 2022 will be Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva (sorry Bivol-Ramirez).
What? That wasn’t on my bingo card. Alas, here we are.
MORE: Everything you need to know about Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva
This brings me to my next point:
Jake Paul and YouTubers aren’t killing the integrity of the sport. Boxing is doing just fine killing itself without social media influencers being involved. And this is coming from someone who loves the sport and has defended it for years from detractors. However, just like the parent of a poorly behaved child, sometimes you just can’t defend it. Instead, you have to be just as critical — if not more — in order to hopefully whip it into shape.
To be clear: when boxing is clicking, there is nothing like it. When the biggest fights happen at the right time, everyone is in awe. It captures the attention of the world. Unfortunately, that happens far less frequently compared to what is expected. The latest examples are the aforementioned fights that were teased but ultimately didn’t materialize, punctuated by Spence-Crawford.
Boxing pundits in the know knew that significant obstacles were preventing Fury-Joshua and Davis-Garcia from happening. But Spence-Crawford was the one that truly felt like it would finally happen. ESPN’s Mike Coppinger reported in September that “all material terms” for the fight were agreed upon. A date of November 19 was penciled in. The only hurdle appeared to be a minor one with some contractual language that needed to be cleaned up. Weeks went by with no updates. And then, seemingly out of nowhere, Crawford signed for a PPV fight with David Avanesyan on December 10, thus putting the undisputed welterweight title fight on hold for even longer (if ever).
Spence and Crawford are in their mid-thirties. The bout has the potential of happening when they are exiting their physical primes rather than being in the midst of it. You know, kind of like Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao when they finally fought after years of negotiations.
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The difference is that neither Spence nor Crawford are remotely close in popularity as Mayweather and Pacquiao and would be lucky to get a quarter of the 4.4 million pay-per-view buys that fight generated.
Boxing fans don’t care about the detailed machinations regarding why a fight does or doesn’t happen. All they see is something they want going up in smoke for reasons that don’t make sense. And it happens far too often in boxing. A proposed fight piques our interest and is then snatched away. Imagine if the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros couldn’t come to terms on a deal to play in the World Series despite being the two best teams in baseball. Ridiculous, right?
Well, that’s boxing for you.
The difficult thing to digest is when boxing’s staunchest defenders blame Jake Paul and influencer boxing for killing the integrity of the sport. Are they delusional? You don’t have to like Jake Paul, but you cannot deny what he brings to boxing in terms of entertainment and finding ways to engage a younger audience with a shorter attention span. And it’s not like Paul isn’t training hard to become the best he can be. We’ve seen marked improvements each time he steps into a boxing ring.
Will he be the next Canelo? Of course not. But there’s no denying his impact. What also can’t be debated is that he’s facing a sincere challenge on October 29 in former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Yes, Silva is 47 years of age. But there is no debate on how great his striking abilities inside the octagon were and how well they have translated in a boxing ring, as evidenced by his victory over former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last June. It’s a significant step up for the 25-year-old Paul, who just started boxing a few years ago. Plenty of boxers spend the majority of their career facing opponents that they are significantly better than before finally taking on elite competition.
Paul challenging himself in his sixth pro fight isn’t a bad thing. It shouldn’t be something that people point at to say is ruining the integrity of the sport. It’s a compelling bout that has captured the imagination of many and will likely do well on pay-per-view.
What are we mad about, exactly? Oh, the integrity of the sport that routinely disappoints us. That’s not on Jake Paul to fix.
MORE: Why it’s okay for Jake Paul to lose to Anderson Silva
The impetus for boxing’s failures rests on the shoulders of the sport itself. It’s not just Terence Crawford and Errol Spence. There’s enough blame to go around that stretches to networks and promoters. The business end of boxing gets pretty ugly and ends up tossing dirt onto boxing’s perceived grave. Meanwhile, as much as the debate about fighter pay in the UFC continues to rage on, what can’t be debated is that, for the most part, they deliver the fights the fans want.
Oh, and then there’s the bad judging and failed drug tests. But we’ll save that conversation for another day.
“Get these fights done, stop shooting yourself in the foot and being greedy,” Paul said when asked by The Sporting News if he had a message to the boxing world at Thursday’s pre-fight news conference. “Give the people what they want, don’t look at every term in the contract and try to change it. Just f—ing fight.
“You spar every day. Why not get paid tens of millions of dollars to do it in front of people? They are very scared to risk their undefeated records but boxing needs these big fights.”
He’s not wrong.
Boxing is complicated and hard to love without having some serious internal constructive criticism to deal with. It won’t be fixed overnight, and the highs will often outweigh the lows. But there are times like now when these lows are impossible to ignore. Be careful of blaming the wrong entities for ruining the sport.
Jake Paul and social media influencers may be the easy target, but it’s best not to alienate those who can help grow the sport. It’s not their fault that the fights we want to see aren’t happening. That’s on the sport itself.
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