This week, Mike Tyson returns to the ring after a 19-year layoff. His opponent is Jake Paul, the YouTube sensation turned professional boxer who some claim is bad for boxing. But boxing isn’t bad for Paul’s wallet. He may make up to $40 million from this fight, although neither Paul nor Tyson confirmed their payday.

On the surface, the appeal is finding out if the 58-year-old Tyson can defeat Paul, who’s less than half Tyson’s age. There’s also this: learning if Paul can continue to build his resume as a boxer, defeating real boxers. However, at the lowest common dominator, the intrigue surrounds whether Jake Paul is the next great white heavyweight.

There’s a truism in advertising that sex sells. That’s not the only thing that sells . . . race sells too, especially in boxing.

Race (or racism) is a featured tactic in fight promotion. One of the most apparent examples was the Mayweather-McGregor fight in 2017, with McGregor engaging in pre-fight antics where he called Mayweather "boy" – the anti-Black slur that serves as a proxy for the N-word – when instructing him to “dance” for him.

Professional boxing is where the concept of the great white hope — and the Black villain — gained traction.

But there are other fights, like Wilder-Fury or even Mayweather-(Logan) Paul. Race in boxing is even sold in Hollywood. Examples include "The Great White Hope," "The Great White Hype" and most notably in the "Rocky" franchise — the fictional story of a self-made white (Italian) boxer taking on the Black heavyweight champion in the first movie, defeating that champ in the second and defending the title against another Black heavyweight in the third.

For this, he earned a statue on the Philadelphia Art Museum steps. The irony of lauding a white fictional boxing hero in Philadelphia wasn’t lost on comedian Bill Burr who in 2011 said:

“F**king Rocky is your hero. The whole pride of your city is built around a f**king guy who doesn’t even exist. You got Joe Frazier from here but he’s Black so you can’t f**king deal with him, so you make a f**king statue of some 3-foot f**king Italian you stupid Philly cheese-eating f**king jacka**es.”

The city erected a Joe Frazier statue in 2015.

Related

Selling race works well in other sports. For example, one of........

© Salon