Despite Jake Paul’s three failed attempts to enter the ring with a “real boxer”, the sport of boxing needs the influencer’s presence – just not on a professional level.
By now, you know the drill. Jake Paul, the Disney star turned controversial YouTuber turned ‘problem child’ boxer has been eager to prove his 5-0 records enough to make him a legitimate competitor.
However, none of his opponents have been professional boxers. Yes, they’ve been star athletes – some even former MMA champions – but none have been trained in the art of boxing. This has led Paul to make multiple failed attempts to fight opponents of a higher caliber.
Jake Paul has planned and promoted three fights with professional boxers, all of which end up being canceled. Two fights with Tommy Fury failed to come to fruition, and the most recent cancelation was with Hasim Rahman Jr. Regardless, Paul doesn’t need to fight real boxers as much as the sport needs him to fight influencers and celebrities.
Boxing needs Jake’s drama
Boxing’s main issue is the lack of an overarching storyline. Everyone loves an underdog, a villain, a down-on-their-luck hero; things that boxing in its current era has lacked. But that was until Jake Paul came along.
Even when his older brother Logan, KSI, and droves of other TikTok/YouTube influencers started to box, none of them had an impact on the sport outside of their amateur fights. But when Jake started to box real athletes and loudly proclaimed he was a “real boxer”, that’s when a broader audience started to take notice of ‘the problem child’, and in tandem, Paul’s own fanbase began to turn their eyes toward professional boxing.
The louder he got, and the more opponents he beat, the more professional boxers wanted a piece of Jake Paul. Not to prove they could beat the undefeated, but to put the YouTuber from Ohio in his place. This unified disdain for Paul gave boxing its villain, but his resiliency gave influencers their champion.
But as Paul gears up to fight real boxers, cracks begin to form. Spectators lose interest as is apparent when looking at the reception of his fight announcements. He receives fractions of the number of interactions he would when announcing a fight against a celebrity opponent.
However, when the drama returns via a cancellation, the passions for hating and supporting Paul reignite. Suddenly, those who didn’t care about the Paul vs Rahman Jr. fight come out of the woodwork to vehemently defend their camp.
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The same goes for when WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman announced Jake would earn a WBC rank if he beat Rahman. An uproar from fans for and against the notion shook the internet. Pro boxers weighed in saying Paul didn’t deserve a rank with only six fights under his belt, while others praised him for the achievement.
Jake’s tapping the wrong tree
Boxing needs Jake Paul to bring the attention and drama the sport has lacked, but Paul doesn’t need to be a professional. In fact, the better career move for Paul – and boxing as a whole – would be if he stuck to celebrity fights.
Take the KSI vs Alex Wassabi fight announcement for example. The first tweet promoting the fight received just under 150K likes. Far more than the ~20K likes that five different tweets earned when announcing Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury.
UFC President Dana White recently stated that Paul needs better people around him who know how to promote a fight. But I’d argue Paul doesn’t need to fight professional boxers at all. He needs to stick to boxing influencers, athletes, and celebrities that sell out arenas. He needs to continue to knock the socks off of his opponents and bark in the face of boxing.
This isn’t to say Jake Paul can’t box. He’s a damn good fighter, but he’s a showman first. He needs to fight his peers like KSI, Andrew Tate, and his brother Logan Paul. These are the matchups that will sell tickets, provide a platform for his undercard fighters, and light fires under real professional boxers.
It’s undeniable that both Jake and Logan are geniuses when it comes to entertainment. Despite several missteps in their careers, they always stay on top and demand attention. Paul needs to play to his strengths. He may be able to take on any cruiserweight in the WBC, but that doesn’t mean he has to.
Jake Paul fighting a real boxer is akin to the defeat of Smaug in The Hobbit. Five fights isn’t a proper build-up. There’s not enough anticipation just yet. Paul’s storyline in boxing isn’t ready for the big crescendo. He needs to continue to fuel the boxing communities hate by beating down amateur fighters until the right superstar pro boxer is knocking on his door with an invitation to fight.
