The Jake Paul Problem.

Lets rewind the clock a few years and the only time you’d hear the name Jake Paul was when you middle school son would try to show you a few songs like “Everyday Bro” and others that I’m sure anybody over 19 were not going to listen to for more than 30 seconds. It was teeny bopper, Disney channel type pop music that he did as a side from his Youtube channel. The YouTube channel is what really thrust him into kids homes w/ his stunts, songs and pretty much every kind of video that TikTok would be doing a few years later. Some would even say he was riding the coat tails of his older brother Logan who also had a youtube channel and was a bit more established. Nobody in the MMA World even knew the name Paul.
Fast forward to 2018 when both Paul brothers would box KSI and his younger brother Deji Olatunji. KSI Would go on to defeat the older Paul brother but Jake would TKO the younger of The KSI crew in the fifth round. In early 2020 Jake would make his “Professional” boxing debut against fellow Youtuber AnEsonGib. Now we use the word professional very loosely as his opponent had no experience and frankly I had never even heard of the guy until I did some research for this article. To Jake’s credit he would TKO the youtuber in the first round. Knocking out a guy is always something you got to respect no matter the skill or talent level. Putting yourself in a ring w/ the object of the next 25 minutes being the guy across from you knocking your head off is something that not everybody will do. This is not the problem w/ The Paul kids.
Now lets get to where the real “Problem” starts to occur. Let me preface this by saying the guy goes by the nickname of “The Problem Child” so before anybody goes texting him and saying my article is insulting remember that information. I digress, in 2020 is when the “problem” began. Mike Tyson announced he was making a comeback and would be fighting fellow legend Roy Jones Jr. A brand new company called Triller (Who would partner w/ Snoop Dogg) would be putting on the bout on PPV in what would become one of the most strange events in recent memory. Now what does this have to do w/ Jake Paul?? Somehow Paul would use his TKO’s of absolute nobodies to parlay that into a co main event on this card where he’d start a feud w/ former NBA player Nate Robinson. Being that this was a CO Main event w/ Mike Tyson you might think you have at least one side of this bout w/ some talent or “pull” as they say in the boxing world. Untrue in this case, Nate had zero boxing experience. His only skills were spawned from what he could convince us was his training. He says he trained constantly and took the bout seriously but lets be realistic, the guy could have hit the gym and threw some punches for ten minutes for this bout and we’d never know the difference. So after a rather abysmal first round Jake knocks this cat out cold, face down and the world starts talking. Jake talked this guy up, created controversy between the two and actually made it seem like beating him was some kind of incredible accomplishment. Could I hop off my couch and knock the guy out cold? Probably not but Jake is talking like he’s the best boxer since Ali and frankly pretending his shit has no odor. To this I’d expect a bit more of an impressive win. He looked rather lost in the first round, winging shots and to be fair was avoiding damage decently.
This is where the Kid really birthed himself. After this fight he starts calling out top guys including Conor McGregor. He even staged a street confrontation w/ McGregor teammate Dillon Danis. Paul drove by an outside interview and threw apples or something at Danis, naturally when Dillon would make his way towards the Paul crew they’d speed off. Nothing much came of that other than another one of Jake’s twitter beefs. Now lets try to understand that this is a bit of his claim to fame. He talks a lot and on his twitter is no exception. He put out a video insulting Conor, his wife and his manhood to which McGregor simply ignored. But he was using MMA fighters names and that brought him attention in the MMA community. MMA Sites began to cover him. MMA Fighters started to talk about him and just like that, a win over a guy who might have trained for 10 minutes has catapulted this youtube kid into the upper echelon of the Boxing and MMA Community. I’ll be as fair as possible, i can scream all day about how we need to just ignore this guy but here I am writing a full article about him. Somehow this kid knows how to get under people’s skin and garner attention.
So what does he do next?? He takes his successful Triller co headline fight and ups the ante w/ a Main Event against a real MMA Star. A Guy who’s won titles in multiple companies and even holds a win in the UFC over the legendary Robbie Lawler. In steps Ben Askren a former One Championship title holder. He’s got a big name and a solid MMA record w/ only 2 defeats. On the surface this was a real test for Jake. To the untrained eye this was a fight that Jake likely wouldn’t win but if he could pull off he’d be a mega star and legit Boxing contender. The problem w/ that is to anyone who has followed MMA for 20 minutes knows that although a great fighter Ben Askren is a wrestler. The man is a world class grappler and can submit 99 out of 100 guys that he steps in the ring with. When it comes to boxing (or in MMA we call it Stand up) he’s a bit under a 3rd grade level. If you watch any of his UFC bouts (well except for the masvidal fight as he only managed to last 5 seconds) his standup is nearly unbelievable. Its incredible that a guy w/ such bad stand up could be so successful in a combat sport. There is a bout w/ Damian Maia that you can watch and see that his boxing is downright embarrassing. Could he knock me out? I mean probably (and the fact that I’m saying probably and actually feeling that’s true is insane) but Jake wants to KO a legit threat. Let me be clear, I love Ben, i think he’s a super guy with one To his credit, he’s happy. He had a bodyguard pass recently and he’s dedicated this bout to him, which is nice and cute and we send out prayers to all families involved but on a professional level none of that makes Jake any more the contender in the world of Boxing. He goes and has some shots w/ Snoop Dogg who is screaming for Dana White to pay him his two million, meanwhile Pete Davidson is just finishing up his commentary about how much of a douche Paul is and somewhere in the back Oscar De La Hoya is passed out from Alcohol intake. The whole event was a mess but what did it do? Once again it catapulted Jake Paul and his name into the upper echelon of Boxing and MMA Allure. I can talk all the shit I want but here again Jake is a step ahead of me and everyone else as he’s now set himself up for an even bigger pay day against honestly anyone.
So what’s my problem w/ Jake Paul? For one, ok let me say this. The kid has obviously put a lot of work in the gym. He looks great and he does have an over hand right punch that could knock a heavyweight stiff. His technique is a bit beyond beginner and once again he has made a name for himself, made millions of dollars and turned the boxing world upside down by doing very little. Lets examine, he beat a MMA guy who’s push 40 years old. He beat a Ex NBA star who as we’ve established could have been in training for 10 minutes and nobody would know the difference. To kick it all off he knocked out a youtuber who in all honesty in the time from my first few paragraphs until this paragraph I honestly have forgotten his name already. So w/ all those unimpressive feats he’s got the absolute biggest names in the business talking about him. Today he caused a near riot w/ Floyd Mayweather and his crew because he stole the 50-0 boxers hat. He ended up w/ a ripped shirt and black eye. Once again, the world is talking about him.
I titled this the Jake Paul problem because its truly becoming a problem as this guy has very minimal talent, absolutely no real accomplishments in the combat sports world but he’s probably the number 1 trending guy in all of combat sports. He’s pissed off Daniel Cormier, Floyd Mayweather, Micheal Bisping and gotten the attention of Conor McGregor, Mike Tyson and more. This story is going to end in one of two ways. He’s either going to beat one or two more extremely winnable fights, retire and proclaim himself the greatest boxer of all time OR he’ll finally take on an opponent w/ some series skill and get himself knocked out cold. The kid is going to be cashing checks and laughing no matter how it all ends. The best way to put this all to rest w/out either of them happening is by just not giving him attention, but to his credit he’s made that damn near impossible. He plays the Heel to an absolute tee. I’m not sure there’s been a more fun guy to hate in MMA since Tito Ortiz.
Enclosing I’ll say this. Could he kick my ass?? Yes he has enough skills to beat the shit out of a 42 year old guy w/ no combat experience. Do I love to hate the guy? I do, I really do and honestly that’s a testament to his true skillset. Its like when you absolutely hate a WWE wrestler but you realize your pure hatred for that superstar is what makes you respect him because he’s doing his job. I’ve learned that’s the same w/ Jake Paul. Whether folks want to admit it or not, every single person out there that dream of him laying on his back after a devastating punch respect him. They may not know it but they do. He’s doing his job. When you watched Wrestlemania III and couldn’t stand Andre The Giant, he was doing his job. When you watched Chuck Liddell Vs. Tito Ortiz and couldn’t stand Tito, he was doing his job. Because there’s only one thing that draws more money than a guy everybody loves. A Guy Everybody Hates. 40% of Howard Stern listeners loved him and listened because they wanted to hear what he had to say next. 60% of his listeners Hated him and listened for the same reason. This is me admitting that though I really don’t like the guy, when Jake Paul is on I won’t be changing the channel.