Mike Tyson

Tuesday

Kevin Cook

Does boxing still matter?

Quick — can you name boxing’s heavy-weight champion? If you’re like most readers, you drew a blank. If you’re a sports fan you may at least have heard of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, who holds three of the world’s four heavyweight title belts. Usyk has a good story: an Olympic gold medalist in 2012, now unbeaten and untied in twenty-one pro bouts, he took time out from training to serve as a soldier in his country’s war with Russia. The fourth title belt, symbolizing the WBC’s heavyweight crown, belongs to England’s Tyson Fury (yes, he’s named after Mike Tyson). The 6’9”, 278-pound Fury is also undefeated, with a record of 24-0-1. His parents are Irish Travellers; Fury proudly calls himself the “Gypsy King.

boxing

Tuesday

Ben Sixsmith

Jake Paul, the Great White Nope

It’s easy to hate Jake Paul. No, really, it is easy. It is easier than fixing a bowl of instant soup or making your way home from your next door neighbor’s house. It is easier than beating a three-year-old at golf or the US triumphing in a war with Liechtenstein.The well-known YouTuber is immensely unlikable. His face conveys gormlessness and smugness simultaneously. His voice is off-puttingly nasal yet serenely self-assured. He is so insanely, shamelessly money-hungry that he put out a Christmas song with the refrain ‘buy that merch’.  His videos appeal to an audience largely consisting of young teenagers with thumbnails of women’s backsides and titles like ‘SURPRISING Best Friend with EMILY WILLIS STRIPTEASE.

jake paul