The bout won’t have an official decision since it’s an exhibition. It might have a knockout. It is certain to deliver an oversized share of frivolity.
The notion of this Sunday’s boxing spectacle between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Logan Paul didn’t begin because there was an obvious title at stake, or as the natural culmination of a long-simmering rivalry, but as an out-of-nowhere suggestion. Paul and his manager, Jeff Levin, were hanging out in the garage of Paul’s suburban Los Angeles home late last year when Levin asked Paul, a YouTube star, whether he’d like to fight Mayweather, the retired welterweight champion. Paul, whose boxing experience includes two bouts against a fellow YouTuber ( one as a pro), figured Levin wasn’t serious. Yet by early December, Levin presented a contract and Paul had a deal to meet Mayweather in a live-streamed sparring session at Mayweather’s gym in Las Vegas. Of course, that agreement wasn’t quite fitting. It involved Paul, a professional social media self-promoter, who has more than 42 million followers combined on YouTube and Instagram. It also involved Mayweather, the protagonist in some of the largest-grossing bouts in boxing history. His last bout, against Conor McGregor, drew a reported 4.3 million pay-per-view buys in 2017. Two years earlier, his fight against Manny Pacquiao did 4.6 million buys. And it is happening in 2021, in an era where high-profile novelty fights involving retired boxers, ball players and social media celebrities have thrust themselves into the sports schedule. Sunday’s card will feature an undercard bout between the former N.F.L. players Chad Johnson and Brian Maxwell, and a main event pitting Mayweather, who has won titles in five weight classes, against Paul, who is 0-1 in sanctioned bouts. Attracting attention is second nature for Mayweather and Paul. Their exhibition fight, in turn, figures to generate pay-per-view buys for Showtime, which is selling the bout for $49.99. The event is further smudging the already blurry lines between sport, entertainment and spectacle. For his part, Mayweather is clear about where this bout lands on the spectrum between serious fight and freak show. “It’s entertainment for people that want to be entertained, that’s been hurting for the last 18 months because of the pandemic,” Mayweather, 44, said in an interview. “We never told people in the boxing world they have to watch. We hope all you guys watch it Sunday, but you’re not forced to.” The trend of novelty fights that Mayweather and Paul are capitalizing on gained momentum in November, when the retired former champions Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. — combined age: 105 — fought to an eight-round draw. That fight headlined a hybrid event, half boxing card and half hip-hop concert, streamed via Triller, a social media start-up. The undercard included Jake Paul, Logan’s younger brother, a social media star whose knockout over the retired N.
