MIAMI — You may have heard on account of the avalanche of hype and Netflix ads that boxing icon Mike Tyson is extracting himself from mothballs to enter the ring against YouTube-invented self promoter Jake Paul on Friday night in a sanctioned heavyweight fight in Arlington, Texas.

Which raises the question: Who is sanctioning fights out there?

Who thought it was a good idea (or fair, or safe) to put a 58-year retiree in the ring against a 27-year-old guy who padded his record beating UFC discards and other YouTubers? On second thought, it could be a fair fight despite itself: An actual accomplished boxer who’s really old vs. a youthful made-up fighter who became famous back when we were all stuck indoors and bored during the pandemic, like Joe Exotic, the Tiger King guy.

To put this age difference in context, Tyson was 30 years old with a 45-2 record when Paul was born in January 1997.

Paul, three inches taller with a five-inch reach advantage, is the betting favorite at sportsbooks I scanned. For example DraftKings has Paul minus-210 to Tyson plus-170.

If Paul wins should we call it elder abuse?

If Tyson wins can we finally hope it might chase an embarrassed Paul back into obscurity?

The fight will take place in the stadium where the gloriously hapless Dallas Cowboys play. Does that mean either Paul or Tyson is doomed to fall behind early by 20 points on scorecards? Thank goodness the fight is at night or one of them might be put off by a glint of sunlight like receiver CeeDee Lamb.

Tyson last fought a sanctioned fight in 2005 , losing a sixth-round TKO to gigantic Irishman Kevin McBride, a fighter of little renown beyond that win. Paul at that time was living in Westlake, Ohio, at age 8 and presumably in the very early stages of figuring out how social media might enable him to never have to have a real job.

Paul vs. Tyson is the latest in America’s long, dubious history in the mashup of sports and entertainment. Nothing is too silly or bizarre for us. And this isn’t new.

Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs played a tennis “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973. Their age difference was similar to that of Paul and Tyson, with the younger King winning in three sets. It was played as a statement of women’s liberation (a saying at the time), but mostly was just immensely watched gimmickry.

Around that same era, we would all gather ‘round the TV and watch a man called Evil Knievel try to jump across the Idaho’s Snake River Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle. That happened.

Google “human cannonball,” kids. That used to happen, too.

The Harlem Globetrotters refined the mashup of “sportainment” and took it mainstream. Today the Savannah Bananas are ripping off the idea on a baseball diamond near you.

American Gladiators was a competition game show we can never quite seem to be rid of. Because caroming off a giant rubber ball to grab a rope and swing Tarzan-like up onto a deck (or splash into the water trying) will never get old, apparently.

Even mainstream sports are turning silly, reaching for bells and whistles in an admission their basic product isn’t good enough because (they think) Americans always need something new and shiny to look at like babies staring up at mobiles spinning slowly above their cribs.

So, now underway: The “NBA Cup,” the “in-season tournament” that nobody asked for or needed. Why? Because Dubai is putting up the money and TV will try its hardest to package and sell it as a real competition, a trophy players actually care about.

All of this brings us back to Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and Netflix and Friday night’s made-for-TV — sorry, made-for-streaming service — spectacle.

It’s happening solely for the money, as if you didn’t know.

“I’m here to make $40 million and knock out a legend,” said the cartoonishly unlikable Paul at a prefight press conference.

Tyson is guaranteed $20 million. Part of the disparity is that Paul’s production company is behind the whole thing, because he is the Gen Z P.T. Barnum; more power to him and God bless America.

No matter the result in this circus mashup of sports and entertainment, Tyson’s place in boxing history will always be safe and Paul’s place in boxing history will also be on the freak-show periphery. No mater the result, both men will be hugely enriched and smiling, because, to those bemoaning what a farce this is, the joke’s on us.

Prediction: The best story, ideal outcome and what many of us hope for somehow will find a way to happen — almost as if scripted. Mike Tyson, the career-long villain-turned-lovable-underdog-grandpa, wins in a third-round knockout, marshaling all of his experience, guile and latent power into one thunderbolt punch that leaves his bigger, younger foe flat on the canvas.

Talk of an inevitable rematch will be almost immediate.

Discreet plans for the winner-take-all third fight will soon follow.

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