A MARTÍNEZ, BYLINE: Tonight, former heavyweight boxing champion of the world, Mike Tyson, will climb back into the ring at the age of 58. He's taking on social media star Jake Paul, who's 31 years his junior. I mean, it's been a long time since Tyson's prime fighting years.
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JIM LAMPLEY: What an uppercut by Douglas, and down goes Tyson.
MARTÍNEZ: That was a 1990 fight against Buster Douglas and one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
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UNIDENTIFIED COMMENTATOR: It's over. It's over.
LAMPLEY: Mike Tyson has been knocked out.
MARTÍNEZ: The blow-by-blow was called on HBO by Jim Lampley. He's a legendary commentator who's covered the sport for over 30 years, and we gave him a ring. So, Jim, do you consider tonight's matchup to be a real fight?
LAMPLEY: I don't consider it a, quote, "real fight." It's not a classic, legitimate boxing match. On the other hand, I know of no law or regulation which prohibits a 58-year-old man from taking his past proven boxing skills into the ring against a YouTube attraction. It is an unconventional, out-of-the-Cracker-Jack-box event. You know, if it weren't for my longtime friendship with Tyson, I wouldn't pay any attention at all. So most of my perspective has to do with my interest/concern in what takes place.
MARTÍNEZ: What are you worried about?
LAMPLEY: Well, he's 58 years old. And most 58-year-old men, despite their background and despite their histories, are well-advised not to go into a prizefight ring and engage in fist-to-fist combat. But money talks, and because of Jake Paul's ability to generate an audience with interest from his YouTube background, Mike has an opportunity to make money. I just think that there's risk in it.
MARTÍNEZ: What's happened to the sport of boxing that it needs to drag out an aging former champion out of retirement to face a social media star to generate headlines?
LAMPLEY: What's happened to American society where a guy can parlay a background in reality television to somehow become, in the eyes of millions, qualified to be president of the United States? And various other distortions take place which wouldn't have taken place in the world in which we lived 20 or 25 years ago. It's everywhere. You know, there are millions and millions of people who are very interested and excited about watching this tonight.
MARTÍNEZ: Is boxing doomed at this point, Jim, to live in the shadow of mixed martial arts, like the Ultimate Fighting Championship?
LAMPLEY: Well, boxing has been doomed for, oh, I don't know, 120, maybe 140 years.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
LAMPLEY: Boxing has always been the red-light district of sports, but that has never diminished people's interest in it. Is boxing doomed to constant repetitions of this kind of event? Yeah, probably so. We're probably going to see more Jake Pauls. We're probably going to see somebody else follow Tyson's path and say, OK, what the heck? So I'm 58. What does it matter? The audience still remembers me. People are interested to see what happens to me. You know, people line up to look at the effects of train wrecks. But yes, the beginning of your question - is boxing doomed? Yes, inevitably and forever.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Jim Lampley, former HBO boxing blow-by-blow commentator. Jim, thank you very much.
LAMPLEY: My privilege. Talk to you later.
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