Mike Tyson's 'fight' with Jake Paul was a cynical cash grab but it's nothing that boxing hasn't seen before

The cameras accidentally catching a flash of Mike Tyson’s bare backside was oddly appropriate.

Plenty of folk got their knickers in a twist over the ageing fighter’s content with social media star Jake Paul. But in reality, it was the general public that had their collective pants pulled down. There’s no real need to get working up into a lather over all of this. It was nothing more than a cynical cash grab and the general public fell into the trap.

Don’t feel bad though. It’s happened before and it will happen again. There’s always a rubber neck quality with these kinds of fights, a morbid fascination wrapped up in nostalgia and a blood lust that occasionally needs satisfied. No, it’s not a death blow to boxing. It wasn’t an affront for the sport or another sign it’s going down the drain. Some more poe-faced observers called in an embarrassment or a shame, a stain on the game.

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Relax troops, it was none of the above. It was a 59-year-old former champ fighting a 27-year-old in a bout that meant hee haw in the grand scheme of things. Neither are real fighters and neither were ever in any danger of actually getting hurt. The pair of them made $50m between then, so who are the mugs?

It wasn’t some game changing moment in boxing either. This kind of nonsense has been going on for years. Muhammad Ali – the greatest – often topped up his bank account with daft exhibition matches – and sometimes when he was at his prime. He was the undisputed world champion when he famously took on Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki in Tokyo in 1976.

That bout even made up new rules and Inoki spent the fight lying on the canvas kicking out at Ali’s legs like the Little Mermaid trying to get off a boat. The $6m he made more than made up for having sore calves for a couple of days.

There have been plenty others. Oscar de la Hoya is a personal favourite from back in the day but he once took on basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neal – with more than a foot and about 16 stone difference between the pair. The wee man won on points though.

There’s been worse. Heavyweight Tony Galento once put Brown Bomber legend Joe Louis on his backside at Yankee Stadium. A few years later he was taking on a kangaroo in Atlantic City, a 550lb bear in Newark and even an octopus in a giant tub. George Foreman also fought five different opponents in one night in another PR stunt.

This stuff has been happening for years. It also makes a mockery of accusations of tarnishing legacies and other such nonsense. Has Ali’s legacy been diminished because he took on a NFL bruiser in a bout that was so bad punters started lobbing rubbish into the ring? Hardly. Mainly because these contests are popcorn for the brain. They make money but are instantly forgettable.

Tyson’s ring legacy is secure. He was the youngest heavyweight champion in history and for a spell in the late eighties he was a force of nature.

Rather than fight YouTubers, people would be better off watching his old fights on the platform. And there was no way this so-called contest was going to dent a reputation that has already taken far more hits than were landed the other night.

Tyson was jailed for rape, bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear and threatened to eat Lennox Lewis’s children. Fighting at 58 isn’t even in the top 10 Tyson controversies. His entire life has been a circus. Not that there was anything controversial about this knockabout. It was just dull.

Tyson landed just 18 punches in eight two minute rounds. Paul only connected with 78 – and more of them wouldn’t have knocked a kid off a beam at a soft play. Listen, Paul might have been a social media star as a kid but he’s clearly put in a power of work in the boxing game.

He’s nowhere near professional, elite class, but he can fight a bit, as we saw against Tommy Fury. The argument against this stuff though is that it takes eyeballs and money away from the real fighters.

It’s a fair point. The flip side is that it draws more folk into the game than before and the cash might filter down eventually.

You want evidence? Check out Katie Taylor’s clash with Amanda Serrano on the undercard. Now that was a fight. It was epic. The great thing about it was the Taylor win was everything the main event wasn’t.

It was fierce, but also tactical and technical. It was two superb boxers going toe-to-toe and hell for leather.

The main course might have been bland but the starter was spectacular. If any good can come from the lucrative waste of time that followed, it’s that maybe the penny will drop that nothing beats the real thing.

And finally folk might give these distractions a bum steer.