People can hate the man all they want, but Jake Paul is a licensed professional boxer. Period.
He fights in professional fights against other professionals licensed to fight him. And his fight purse makes him an elite boxer too.
Whether he deserves to fight for the championship in any given weight class or league is irrelevant. Not every fighter becomes the champion. If that were true, it would mean a lot less.
Of course, there’s a different argument to be made about whether he’s a professionally trained fighter versus just a professional fighter, so we’ll debunk both here.
He earned another $1 million to fight Tyron Woodley.Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley fight purse: How much did the fighters make tonight?Incredibly, Jake Paul says he took a pay cut.https://www.cnet.com/news/jake-paul-vs-tyron-woodley-fight-purse-how-much-did-the-fighters-make-tonight/
These numbers are deceiving, because Paul also gets a percentage of the PPV money, which earned him an easy seven figure payout (possibly eight for Woodley) on top of each of the numbers listed.
But the real question is whether he has the skills of a professional boxer…
Now Joe Rogan is a longtime UFC announcer who arguably knows more about MMA than boxing. But he’s also been training with and around top-tier fighters for his entire adult life.
Rogan’s opinion is just one, but it’s a lot more experienced and educated than you or I. And he believes Jake Paul is a very dangerous and underrated fighter.
Rogan explains how Jake’s technical skills compare to his brother Logan’s. Logan throws windmill type punches with a wind up. Jake is a straight, hard puncher.
His mom Pam explained when she joined him on Clubhouse in March this year that her sons are solid-built guys. She’s not worried about him, because she knows he can fight.
The reason nobody wants to believe Jake Paul is a professionally skilled boxer is because he’s as notorious as he is famous. People want him to lose – he’s like a heel in wrestling.
Being notorious is different than fame in that you’re famous for a bad thing. But it’s not a bad thing for abrand to be notorious.
Notoriety is arguably a good thing because you love to hate Jake Paul. He’s been accused of running scams, posting inappropriate content, disturbing and harassing his neighbors, and shamelessly selling merch to kids.
And Paul isn’t the only professional fighter to go through this. Notorious Conor McGregor has a similar career as a heel.Conor McGregor: Notorious (2017) – IMDbConor McGregor: Notorious: Directed by Gavin Fitzgerald. With José Aldo, Audie Attar, Ryan Buescher, Kiefer Crosbie. Featuring unprecedented access, never before seen moments and explosive fight footage, this is the ultimate behind-the-scenes look at a sporting icon and his spectacular rise.https://m.imdb.com/title/tt7518466/
McGregor is arguably one of the greatest fighters to ever step into the octagon. He’s one of the most dangerous fighters alive and held multiple lightweight and Featherweight championships.
But his professional boxing record is 0–1.
He lost to Floyd Mayweather in front of 4.3 million paying domestic PPV customers. That’s nearly twice the record crowd of 2.4 million buyers that watched him fight Khabib at UFC 229.
People loved the opportunity to say this Irishman isn’t a boxer. And to his defense, he’s not.
McGregor is a mixed martial artist who was fighting under different rules. He would have destroyed Mayweather under MMA rules, because Mayweather is not a professional quality MMA fighter, despite being an elite boxer.
But people piled on McGregor because of his constant antics. He disrespects other fighters, attacks them on the bus, and generally has a IDGAF attitude that makes people love to hate him.
Losing to Mayweather isn’t hard; he’s 50–0 in the ring. Manny Pacquio, Shane Mosley, Oscar De La Hoya, and other elite professional boxers lost to Mayweather.
Jake Paul isn’t a boxer on the level of Floyd Mayweather, but that doesn’t mean he’s not capable of getting there. He’s 24 years old and certainly not the prospect Mike Tyson was at 20 or Jon Jones was at 23.
That doesn’t mean he can’t be a successful fighter. George Foreman fought his way to the top with pure punching power.
He wasn’t fast, didn’t fight with much of a game plan, and had little defense skills. He just punched so hard it didn’t matter.
Foreman eventually dominated his way to the top and seemed unstoppable until he met Muhammad Ali.
Ali outboxed Foreman and changed the game into what it would be until Mike Tyson hit the scene.
Jake Paul is no Mike Tyson. He isn’t Muhammad Ali. But he could have a career like George Foreman’s, which isn’t the worst way to go.
Honestly, even if he won a division championship, people would still call him a paper champ. That’s just how the world is, but it wouldn’t diminish his paycheck.