Colin Sheridan: Pathetic Tyson-Paul show should mark end of this era of pro boxing - but won't

There's too much money to be made from a sport that's sold its soul. 

TEXAS HOLD'EM: Jake Paul and Mike Tyson before their heavyweight bout at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

“I’ve seen the needle and the damage done,” sang Neil Young, “a little part of it in everyone. And every junkie’s like a setting sun.” On Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, two junkies - one, Jake Paul, addicted to attention and money, the other, Mike Tyson, addicted to boxing, and God knows what else - put on a show that was so absurd it could finally see the sun set on this era of professional boxing. 

It could, but it won’t. There is too much money to be made and too many fools willing to part with it. A professional celebrity and a 58-year-old one-time champ, three decades past his prime following each other around a ring was pure scripted pantomime. Colin Firth and Hugh Grant fighting in Bridget Jones’s diary was more authentic. Those who have paid close enough attention to men's professional boxing have long ago seen the needle and the damage it's done to the sport. These two addicts were like a pair of setting suns. The sun, sadly in this instance, also rises. Paul will find another clown to dance with. It has become clear over his boxing “career” - nine fights, eight wins, one loss - that, while money is his main motivator, he loves the idea of himself as an elite athlete. In trying to buy legitimacy, he has further degraded a sport intent on self-sabotage.