Jake Paul’s artless spectacle robbed boxing of its democratic dream

Netflix’s 300 million global subscribers got just what they wanted: to see a former YouTuber knocked out brutallyGeorge Foreman once said boxing is the sport to which all other sports aspire. Putting aside the breathtaking exhibitions of physical and psychological intensity it can produce, boxing has long been a refuge of the underclass, credited with changing the lives of the disenfranchised and impoverished. There are no barriers to entry. In that sense, it has always sold a democratic dream.But boxing is, and has always been, the red-light district of professional sports, its flimsy guardrails making it a longtime haven for brazen criminals and the kind of grift and corruption that strains credulity. There are no barriers to entry. The idea that a sport which gave the world Don King, Frank “Blinky” Palermo and Park Si-hun v Roy Jones Jr could somehow be further debased is almost laughable. Continue reading...