Mike Tyson slams boxing\u2019s best fighters for having poor entertainment value Naomi Osaka x Hana Kuma – YouTubeMike Tyson recently took a dig at the best boxers in the world, including Terence Crawford, for not having the entertainment value to generate hysteria as box office draws on fight nights. Tyson appeared on the \u201cGood Trouble with Nick Kyrgios\u201d podcast ahead of his upcoming megafight against Jake Paul and gave his opinion on the current state of boxing today. The former undisputed heavyweight champion stated that today\u2019s elite champions lack the it-factor required to excite the fans enough and rake in top dollars from ticket sales. \u201cTerence Crawford, in a boxing fight against Errol Spence. He\u2019s the best fighter in the world but he can\u2019t draw five thousand people,\u201d Tyson hyperbolized before detailing what\u2019s keeping fighters from being the same type of draws he and his contemporaries were. \u201cIt has to be entertaining. It has to be exciting. The best fighters in the world, can\u2019t, like I said, they could beat anybody. They could beat anybody in the world, but they can\u2019t draw five thousand tickets, you know. That\u2019s because they\u2019re not exciting. The way they make their money is because their opponents are very exciting, and got a big following. But there\u2019s people, I\u2019m sure they\u2019re intent, guys that could beat them up, but they look like s***. It\u2019s like watching grass grow.\u201d Tyson mentioned that fighters in the 1980s and 1990s were more riveting and that\u2019s why they took home purses that, when adjusted for today\u2019s economic climate, were higher than the earnings of today\u2019s biggest names. There is a level of validity to his claims regarding top fights in today\u2019s landscape. Crawford\u2019s bout against Spence was the most anticipated matchup of 2023. The match generated $21 million in gate revenue. In comparison, Tyson\u2019s first bout against Evander Holyfield was also the most hyped matchup that brewed for upwards of five years while Tyson served a three-and-a-half year jail sentence. That fight brought in a then-record $14.2 million in gate revenue, which amounts to $27.57 million in 2024. Beyond the numbers, boxing has also been infiltrated by influencers forging their own path within the sport. Figures like Jake Paul and his brother Logan have created hype that resonates with fanbases despite limited track records. Tyson, 57, and Paul, 27 are gearing up for one of the most talked about fights of the year, despite Tyson\u2019s advanced age and 19-year retirement as well as Paul being a rising star, yet without a notable opponent in their prime on his record, giving credence to his comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mike Tyson slams boxing\u2019s best fighters for having poor entertainment value Naomi Osaka x Hana Kuma – YouTubeMike Tyson recently took a dig at the best boxers in the world, including Terence Crawford, for not having the entertainment value to generate hysteria as box office draws on fight nights. Tyson appeared on the \u201cGood Trouble […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21679\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}