At some point we have to consider the possibility that Jake Paul is a really good boxer. We don’t have to like him, but we do have to be honest with ourselves about it.
That beating he gave Mike Perry on Saturday night? That’s not something just anyone can do. Even with the advantage of being a weight class or two bigger come fight night, it still takes some skill to take down an experienced fighter like Perry. It’s not easy to accept the fact that a Disney YouTuber gave Perry a six-round beating and made it look easy, but we can’t run away from reality forever.
The problem is that proving you’re not an unpleasant tourist has its downside, because once we accept that you can actually fight, we’ll want to see you in real fights. What will excite us a lot less is watching you beat up the nearly 60-year-old corpse of a great boxer.
Paul still wants that fight with Mike Tyson. He said as much on Saturday night, around the same time he challenged UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. The current plan is to do Paul versus Tyson in November, assuming Tyson doesn’t have any more health issues like the ones that forced him to pull out of this summer’s planned fight on Netflix.
But after watching Paul beat a bare-knuckle boxer in his prime, are we really going to go ahead with a fight that seemed almost unsanctionable? before What are Tyson’s most recent health problems? Not only does this seem like a bad idea for a man who is about to receive social security, but it also seems like a waste of time.
The version of Paul we saw on Saturday night could genuinely hurt the current version of Tyson. He probably won’t, as all the fight-to-the-death talk these two were throwing around at press conferences was clearly intended to obscure the fact that they’re actually pretty close. What they’ll probably do instead is have a glorified sparring session that makes everyone watching it feel like the lout at the carnival, and they’ll both probably make a ton of money in the process.
But wouldn’t we rather see Paul do something else, something worthwhile? If he’s going to be here developing into a good boxer before our very eyes, wouldn’t it be more fun to see him test his skills against other good boxers, possibly even his own age?
For example, consider his challenge to Pereira. Obviously, “Poatan’s” UFC contract is a huge obstacle to that fight becoming a reality, but think how much more compelling it would be. Imagine seeing Paul in a fight where we care about his health and not the other guy’s. Imagine him being upstaged by Pereira on the weigh-in stage, and then summoning every ounce of courage as he stands in the ring and watches the UFC champion shoot imaginary arrows at him during his exit.
That would be awesome. It would also be quality entertainment, one way or another. And if we can’t get Pereira, we can settle for someone equally dangerous who doesn’t have a UFC-shaped barrier between him and payday.
Because one thing we know about Paul is that he is very capable of generating hype about a fight. The early years of his career were nothing more than that, as the fights he himself chose were purposely not that competitive. Now that he has some real skills along with the grudging respect of (at least some of) his haters, why not put them to the test in real life?
The answer, of course, is money. Boxing Tyson will bring in a lot of money, in part because Tyson remains the terrifying heart-eater for many people who remember his glory days and don’t know how time works. There’s a reason Netflix was interested in that fight, but not the Perry one. Tyson’s name still has a lot of value, and it’s the name rather than the man that Paul would actually be fighting.
Still, can’t we think of anything better for him to do? It’s fine to spend your days in celebrity-style clout fights when that’s all you’re good for. But once you’ve proven you can actually box, it seems a waste not to do it against other people who are willing to prove the same.
(tags to translate)Jake Paul
