The announcement that Floyd Mayweather Jr would be returning to professional boxing later this year was far from the most unexpected boxing news of last Friday — that honour went to Conor Benn’s surprising promotional switch from Matchroom to Zuffa Boxing — but it made just as big an impact on the news agenda.
Why? Because despite retiring from professional boxing in 2017, the former world champion, who subsequently announced he will be returning to take on Manny Pacquiao, 47, for a rematch of their 2015 Fight of the Century in September, is still one of the most globally recognisable names in the sport.
He left it with an undefeated 50-0 record, having been a 15-time world champion across five weight classes; his legacy as one of the greatest pound-for-pound fighters in the sport’s history secured.
His return to the sport on a professional level is big news, no matter the reasons behind it.
Big news, yes? But a real shock? No, even if it came just days before his 49th birthday, which he celebrates today. Of all sports, boxing is perhaps the most welcoming to those who decide they need to retire from retirement.
George Foreman famously took a decade off to become a Christian minister before returning to become boxing’s oldest heavyweight world champion at 45. Last year, a 46-year-old Pacquiao returned after four years out of the ring to take on Mario Barrios for his WBC welterweight world title. He is set to fight again, in April this year, in a 10-round welterweight exhibition against 42-year-old Ruslan Provodnikov, before his reunion with Mayweather in Las Vegas. And of course, former heavyweight titan Mike Tyson returned for his first “professional” fight in 19 years when he fought Jake Paul in 2024 at the age of 58, and is set to take on Mayweather in a yet-to-be-scheduled exhibition bout this spring.
Mike Tyson came out of retirement at 58 to fight Jake Paul in 2024 (Al Bello/Getty Images for Netflix)
It has always happened, but it feels like it’s happening now more than ever before, raising questions about the health, ethics and direction of a sport that is in a huge period of transition.
Why is boxing so open to providing routes back in for former or simply ageing fighters? Perhaps it’s because boxing, unlike most professional sports, does not have a veterans’ league or similar competition that offers an opportunity for athletes to flex their competitive muscle (and earn some extra cash) once they retire. Arguably, that’s for good reason: boxing is a dangerous sport that poses very real risks to a fighter’s physical and neurological health. Those only increase with age.
Even so, one ageing fighter taking on another would likely be a “safer” way to go than having them tackle a boxer in their physical prime, as we saw in the 31-year age gap between Tyson and Paul.
Maybe it’s also because boxing has become increasingly expensive and difficult to watch over the past decade, making it harder to build stars who are capable of commanding the same attention as those from previous eras?
Since the elevation of Turki al-Sheikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, to boxing’s top table, the big fights are being made more often, but they are often being shown on platforms without the reach to match. In the US, Showtime, HBO, Fox and ESPN were once showing the sport regularly. In the UK, Sky Sports has had exclusive deals with promoters including Matchroom and Boxxer, with TNT (formerly BT Sport) signing one with Queensberry.
In the UK, the state broadcaster, the BBC, has recently stepped back into boxing after 20 years away from the sport by signing a deal with Boxxer, while Sky Sports is dipping its toes back in with MVP (there are also whispers of a future deal with Zuffa). But the biggest promoters are tied to streaming platforms like DAZN and Amazon Prime, with new entity Zuffa Boxing on Paramount+.
Will the more casual fans who might have tuned into a cable channel to watch go the extra mile to find fights there? And do they have the same power to build and sell a fight?
If not, it’s easy to see how gaps are left for the likes of Mayweather and Tyson to fill.
While the physical implications of ageing fighters returning are clearly the most serious, there are potential consequences for the sport as a whole. The hardcore boxing fanbase who follow it week in, week out is a relatively small one. Beyond a handful of fights each year which might cross over into mainstream sport coverage, it can be a real battle for boxing to find space in a crowded marketplace.
It is obviously newsworthy when the likes of Tyson, Mayweather and Pacquiao return; they were, and still are, legendary figures. And they still attract attention: Tyson’s fight against Paul was the most streamed sporting event ever, watched live by 60million households according to Netflix. The Athletic’s live blog of the same fight pulled in astonishing numbers, and other media outlets will have seen a similar spike in traffic.
Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul was the most streamed live sports event so far (Brett Carlsen/Getty Images for Netflix)
With all that energy and oxygen (not to mention money) being given over to fighters who are returning for a second, third or even fourth bite of the cherry, what does it leave for those who are still trying to follow in their footsteps?
It’s not only returning retirees who are making headlines. In April, Deontay Wilder (40) will take on Derek Chisora (42) in what will be both men’s 50th contests, with the winner possibly earning a mandatory shot at the IBF title of Oleksandr Usyk, who is himself 39.
In the same month, fellow heavyweight Tyson Fury, 37, will return from his latest retirement in a stadium fight against Arslanbek Makhmudov — another fight earning the Netflix treatment. The Brit has been inactive since his defeat to Usyk in December 2024 but has been strengthening his ties with the streaming platform by filming the second series of his At Home with the Furys documentary, and will now benefit from the huge global audience Netflix brings when they show his comeback fight.
None of this is to say that these fighters don’t merit a place in the ecosystem — their achievements and status in the sport absolutely do. And we have seen aging fighters who are able to compete — Bernard Hopkins was winning world titles into his late forties.
But should they? After all, not everyone is built like Hopkins, a man they called “The Alien”. For the sake of their long-term health, and that of the sport, it’s a question worth asking.
The more we see of these ‘nostalgia’ fights, the less chance there is of one of the fine young fighters getting time in the spotlight, and the opportunity to build the kind of profile their predecessors enjoyed.
Could Netflix be using some of that money they are throwing at Mayweather, Tyson and Fury to boost the profile of current world champions (something they have previously done in the cases of Katie Taylor v Amanda Serrano and Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez v Terence Crawford)?
Fast-forward 10 or 15 years and one wonders whether the current crop of world champions will be commanding as much attention in the sport as the over-40s crew are now?
Importantly, what happens once it’s over? Will boxing have enough star power to continue to attract the biggest platforms to show its wares? Because without it, the battle for space will only become more difficult.