Such was the rarity of Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul taking place, the fight arrived on Netflix under a cloud of suspicion that boxing had surrendered to the choreography.
To be clear, this was a sanctioned professional contest, not a written event, and the story it produced was mundane and predictably one-sided.
No scriptwriter would have thought of something like that.
The plot that unfolded in the ring was lifeless: a slow, joyless watch that would have struggled to earn even a charitable rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
And the biggest irony is that this show has brought Joshua one of his biggest incomes and, in all likelihood, his biggest television audience.
With seconds remaining in the fourth round, referee Christopher Young perhaps spoke for viewers around the world when he gathered the fighters and urged them to participate.
Directing his comments at Paul, he said: “Fans didn’t pay to see this shit.”
“Amen,” responded Netflix commentator Mauro Ranallo. “Christopher Young with the call of the night”.
All week Joshua talked about “carrying boxing on his back.” On Friday night in Miami, he shed the burden, but only after an awkward and laborious process.
Paul was there to survive.
The man who spent fight week promising the biggest upset in the history of the sport avoided the commitment.
He circled incessantly, making the most of the space provided by a ring two feet wider than normal, and tried to run out the clock.
When he made contact, it was with echoes of his schoolboy past as a wrestler, constantly ducking and grabbing Joshua’s leg.
There was an embarrassing lack of punching from Paul and a litany of wild punches from Joshua that even a novice like his opponent could easily evade.
“It’s a victory, but not a success,” Joshua said afterwards. “I have a lot to improve. I’m not happy.”
Joshua won his share of a £210 million purse, but from a boxing perspective, and for those in the UK who stayed up until the early hours of the morning to watch, the fight was meaningless.
