Friday night’s heavyweight faceoff between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson was hard to watch — and not just because of Netflix’s technical issues. The 58-year-old Tyson looked his age, slow and unsuited to be in the ring, while Paul, the 27-year-old social media star, admitted to pulling his punches: "I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn’t want to hurt someone that didn’t need to be hurt.”
Fans and bettors expecting a serious athletic competition had been warned. In advance of the fight, seven states refused to allow betting on it. Among other problems, they determined that the unusual rules that made the fight less dangerous, such as shorter two-minute rounds, meant that the matchup wasn’t suitable for wagering. Texas, which licensed the fight, and 31 other states disagreed. But they were wrong: Paul treated it like an exhibition, to the detriment of anyone who wagered or watched.
Spectators — many of whom feel bamboozled — looking for somewhere to place blame should start with the fact that the sport has long been regulated state-by-state. To prevent a similar debacle in the future, boxing needs a national boxing commission that can enforce uniform rules and practices.
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