CLEVELAND – Jake Paul admits he can come across as arrogant, loud and obnoxious.
None of those traits have exactly endeared the controversial content creator to hardcore boxing fans who view him as an outsider, an opportunist cashing in on his popularity in other arenas by beating up on a low level of opposition. Slowly but surely, however, the 24-year-old Paul hopes he can win over the sport’s purists who are bothered by how he and his older brother, Logan Paul, have already made millions while boxing, despite their inexperience.
Whether they like him or not, Jake Paul will headline a Showtime Pay-Per-View main event in just his fourth professional fight Sunday night at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Paul (3-0, 3 KOs), of nearby Westlake, Ohio, will face former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley in an eight-round cruiserweight fight.
The 39-year-old Woodley is the toughest opponent Paul has agreed to box since Paul made his pro debut in January 2020. None of Paul’s opponents – YouTube rival Ali Eson Gib, former NBA point guard Nate Robinson or retired UFC fighter Ben Askren – made it out of the second round.
Paul plans to start swaying some of his detractors within boxing’s fan base with his performance against Woodley, who lost each of his last four UFC fights. Woodley, who was an elite-level wrestler for the University of Missouri, will make his pro boxing debut when he opposes Paul.
“Yeah, look, I would love the boxing community to fully embrace me,” Paul said. “I think a lot of people have already. But now it’s that, it’s the boxing purists, who maybe fully don’t understand exactly what I’m doing. So, I would love that respect. And like I said, all I’m trying to do is have boxing become one of the top two sports. I wanna take over the NBA, I wanna take over the NFL, I wanna take over MMA, because MMA took over boxing for a long period of time.
“And I believe with the lightweight division – you know, the [Ryan] Garcias, [Devin] Haney, Gervonta [Davis] – the heavyweight division, all the fights that are about to happen, and then add in me and my brother and some of the YouTube creators that are boxing, we can make this sport go number one. And that’s all I’m here to do.”
Paul-Woodley will headline a five-fight pay-per-view show Sunday night from the home arena of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers (8 p.m. EDT; $59.99).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for krikya360.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.