It's sad to see the sideshow that boxing has become, where there's far more interest in watching someone close to pension age fight a loudmouth amateur than there is in any real fight.
The real problem is the total lack of structure and long-term thinking at the top of the sport, with everything fractured and spread out. I was a casual fan back in the '90s and '00s, mostly as a big fan of Lennox Lewis (massively underrated IMO), but drifted away like most as things got even messier through the Klitschko years. I got into MMA/UFC briefly as a GSP fan, but decided that the intricacies of BJJ (e.g. men rolling around on the ground) are not to my taste and stopped watching. I tried to get back into boxing when I had a DAZN subscription, and while I enjoyed the sport, I wasn't committed enough to figure out who was who, which meant I was essentially watching two random dudes without the backstory that makes combat sports a lot more compelling.
I hoped maybe a personality like Tyson Fury could reignite interest in the heavyweight division, but he didn't get far into the mainstream consciousness outside of the UK. What the sport needs is a UFC-like central dominant organiser, one that will have a clear hierarchy and be able to promote multiple classes. Maybe that'll come out of the recent Saudi interest in the sport, but if that blood money drives it, I won't be watching.
All of which is a longwinded and rambling way of saying I couldn't give a crap about Tyson-whatshisname, as it has about as much in common with pro boxing as pro wrestling has with any real sport. I have zero interest in watching an elderly Gretzky play hockey against some amateurs, an elderly Jordan play basketball, etc., and I feel the same here.
