Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. gave boxing a throwback party on Saturday night, with a bout headlining a pay-per-view event that was heavy on spectacle and light on serious competition.

They fought to a draw.

There will be — there already has been — much rending of garments in the boxing world about whether a card headlined by two men in their 50s and a former N.B.A. player fighting a YouTube star is good or bad for the sport. And if you are a hard-core boxing fan, that probably seems like an important debate.

But for everybody else, this fight card was … fun? There were some real fights, and some less real fights. Nate Robinson got knocked out badly, and Jake Paul said he wanted to take on Conor McGregor, causing his interviewer, Jim Gray, to noticeably laugh. Seemingly every N.B.A. player tuned in, only to see Robinson audition for the next edition of Shaqtin’ A Fool.

Mike Tyson, even at 54, showed he still has some of that speed and power that made him such a devastating fighter. And Roy Jones Jr., after his obviously losing performance was judged a draw, was asked for his thoughts and exclaimed, “I wear draws, I don’t do draws.”

Snoop Dogg replaced Lil Wayne at the last moment, and rapped a number of his hits while smoking out. He then joined the announcers to form a four-man socially-distanced booth and commentated on the fights, and somehow it worked? He described Tyson and Jones as “two of my uncles fighting at the barbecue,” among a number of other laugh-out-loud lines. (“Grandma, they in the back fighting again!”)

Michael Buffer asked if we were ready to rumble. French Montana performed a set in front of what looked like a futuristic version of the pyramid in front of the Louvre. The lights and camera angles were cool.

We are about to enter month nine of the pandemic, month nine of hopefully most people staying home every Saturday night, maybe watching Netflix or playing a card game or going to bed early. But an exhibition fight on FiteTV, presented by Triller and Weedmaps, was honest to God entertaining. That’s worth something. (The New York Times)

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