Seriously Take Jake Paul Seriouly?? Well, yeah, maybe...
Jake Paul is slates to fight Mike Tyson in about a month (maybe just a week or so by the time this post). Will you be watching? I sure would if I. If I could like many people, I root for Tyson, partly from nostalgia and partly from the 19 sense that Jake Paul is it irredeemable ass. I don't like him much at all, and to the extent he was growing on me and he was his outspoken bullshit attacks on Libyan (or is she Algerian?) boxer Imani Khelif during this year's Olympics pulled the plug on his redemption, in my eyes.
That said (and I really hate to say this!)... I think we all have to start taking this Jake Paul guy seriously. I know, it sucks, but hear me out. For years it's been not only easy to dismiss him as a boxer, but virtually mandatory to do so. So long as he kept fighting dumbass Pseudo-celebrities and washed up ex-fighters who came in far below his weight class, what else could any self-respecting fight fan do but dismiss him? Is he taking on just one good boxer, or at least one mediocre boxer, his own size, we could've respected him a bit. But if you just kept on with his circus, sideshow performances, then he could ever really he was a clown. Is he taking on just one good boxer, or at least one mediocre boxer, his own size, we could've respected him a bit. But if you just kept on with his circus, sideshow performances, then all he could ever really be was a clown.
Recently, though, this clownship has given away to something more serious. It started with fighting Tommy Fury, which was a huge step in the right direction. Tommy is not a real boxer, but a currently active one, and brother to the then heavyweight world champion. He had genuine credibility, and as far as I know, he was at least half of Jake Paul size too, so that was something. Paul lost, as he should, but with that fight his record gain significant substance, if you only issue volume was a credible bow. Then came Mike Perry. When Paul took on the ex-UFC brawler and current dominant face in the Bareknuckle boxing league, he added to his credibility again. Sure, Platinum Mike was still a good bit smaller than Jackass Jake, but he was also considerably more experienced and had a reputation as being considerably more fierce. It seemed like a fairly reasonable match up, and I thought the Platinum One would win for sure. But he didn't win. He lost. Badly. And that was the point where I simply hd to admit to myself (and no doubt many others faced this same reckoning, as millions of us would-be tugh guy, if we were even... (more)