Latest editorial
Jake Paul lands a left to Mike Tyson during their heavyweight boxing match, November 15, 2024, in Arlington, Texas
IN HIS classic 1967 work, The Society of the Spectacle, French Marxist theorist, Guy Debord, has this to say: “The spectacle presents itself as a vast inaccessible reality that can never be questioned. Its sole message is: What appears is good; what is good appears.”
Watching the spectacle of a 58-year-old Mike Tyson’s attempt last weekend to convince himself and the world that he is still someone to be taken seriously in a boxing ring was more than painful — it was dreadful.
There he was, in front of 60,000 spectators (mugs) at the Dallas Cowboys’ Stadium in Texas — laying waste to not only his legacy, but more importantly his dignity. That his opponent in this spectacle of cringe was 27-year-old social media influencer, Jake Paul, merely heightened the sadness involved in what was a slow-motion car crash.
From Manchester pubs to global arenas, Ricky Hatton embodied working-class pride in and out of the ring, but his last round was fought in solitude, writes JOHN WIGHT
Vilified by the public after defeating Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner’s remarkable career and tragic decline reflected the era’s attitudes as much as the man himself, says JOHN WIGHT
Amid riots, strikes and Thatcher’s Britain, Frank Bruno fought not just for boxing glory, but for a nation desperate for heroes, writes JOHN WIGHT
In recently published book Baddest Man, Mark Kriegel revisits the Faustian pact at the heart of Mike Tyson’s rise and the emotional fallout that followed, writes JOHN WIGHT
