Jake Paul proved he is boxing's biggest star with Mike Tyson fight

Jake Paul beat Mike Tyson in Dallas last weekend - but if you ignore the fight itself, it's hard not to appreciate what the YouTuber has achieved

Forget, for a moment, the eight rounds Jake Paul shared the ring with Mike Tyson.

Forget, for a moment, no matter how hard, the 31-year-age gap between the opponents.

Forget, and bear with me, the fact Tyson claims to have almost died in the build-up to his first fight in four years.

Instead, focus on the event and ob the fact more than 70,000 fans packed into the AT&T Stadium in Dallas and another 108million tuned in on Netflix. Only a handful of boxers can fill a stadium; Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Canelo Alvarez are the only three who spring to mind - and last Friday's viewership will surely never be surpassed.

A phrase heard more than once in Dallas last week was "don't hate the player, hate the game" and rarely has that been more true than when it comes to Paul. Why wouldn't the 27-year-old grab an opportunity to fight a living legend and make millions from it? If you were convinced this would be a 'real' fight because Tyson slapped Paul at the weigh-in or they traded insults for eight months, that's on you.

It was clear from the 16 minutes of action that this fight was an exhibition in all but name. The bigger gloves and shorter rounds said as much beforehand, and Paul admitting he took it easy just confirmed it. "Yeah, definitely," he said when asked if he had carried Tyson. "Definitely a bit. I wanted to give the fans a show, but I didn't want to hurt someone that didn't need to be hurt." Having the fight sanctioned added legitimacy and increased interest - but don't blame Paul or Tyson for that, blame the commission.

Paul is unlikely to change boxing and his claim to be expanding it's reach to a new generation are not backed up by evidence. How many of the 70,000 in Dallas watched him KO Ryan Bourland or Andre August? But Paul won't care; he has built a brand attractive to some of the biggest companies in the world, be that Netflix or fight sponsors including energy drink Celsius.

And the truth is, Paul doesn't even hide his motivation or his modus operandi. "People love to hate me, " he said after beating Tyson. "I'm easy to hate and I intentionally say things to make people hate me. I play the heel, I feed into that and that's just what I like to do. That's what entertainment is."

Like it or not, Paul is here to stay.