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Jake Paul knows that his professional career will always come with its fair share of skeptics.
Getting him to care will prove to be more of a challenge than any he thinks he’ll ever face in the ring.
“I don’t give a fuck,” Paul said of the ongoing criticism during a news conference, ironically to announce his toughest test date before his next fight with Anderson Silva. “I played them like a violin. I have them looking. I have them intrigued. They are now in my back pocket.
“I’m winning at my own game and they’re all part of an important plan.”
Paul (5-0, 4KO) appealed to a very different audience long before his professional debut in January 2020, at a time when YouTube personalities and content creators were beginning to infiltrate the sport. The boxing community has been slow to accept his efforts, though curiously he has drawn more attention, negative or not, from MMA fans and even his athletes. Many of that world will remain engaged before his next fight, when he takes on Brazil’s Silva atop a Showtime Pay-Per-View on October 29 from the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Even at 47 years old, Silva enters the fight as a slight betting favorite. He represents the most successful athlete Paul has faced to date, with the longest championship reign in UFC history and also going 3-1 as a professional boxer. Silva’s biggest boxing victory to date came as a huge upset, beating former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last June in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The fight marks the first time Paul will face an opponent with professional boxing experience against someone other than himself. Paul turned pro against fellow influencer Aneson Gib, whom he knocked out in one round. He then crushed former NBA star Nate Robinson in the second round of their November 2020 clash, followed by an early knockout of former mixed martial artist Ben Askren last April and a split decision victory over the former NBA champion. UFC welterweight Tyron Woodley last August.
All four had never boxed before facing Paul. That trend technically ended when Paul faced Woodley for the second time last December, the unlikely rematch surfacing after Woodley replaced an injured Tommy Fury (8-0, 4KOs). Efforts to reschedule with Fury earlier this summer proved futile, with the undefeated Brit not being allowed to travel to the US in time, or at all, for his planned Showtime PPV main event on June 6. August at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Paul managed to find a replacement opponent in Hasim Rahman Jr. (12-1, 6KOs), although the fight never came to light.
The two were due to meet at the 200-pound cruiserweight limit: the first time Paul was due to fight over 193 pounds, and the second-generation Rahman weighed in at under 211 pounds. The fight fell apart once it became known that Rahman couldn’t drop that much in weight, he wouldn’t even accept a modified weight of 205 pounds mandated by the New York State Athletic Commission.
Paul had to find a new opponent and a date, landing on a fighter many speculated he would never face. Fans brought up Silva’s name after Paul needed to replace the injured Fury last December, to the point of criticism when he instead agreed to give Woodley a rematch. He went full steam ahead with the fight this time, though well aware that he still won’t satisfy those who will always find fault with his career.
“I’m here because my other opponents were assholes,” said Paul de Fury and Rahman. “I have an opponent who is a true professional who will make weight and I won’t have to worry about doing a full training camp. [without fighting].”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
