YouTuber Jake Paul has been stirring the pot once again, sharing his views on a potential boxing match-up with UFC legend Conor McGregor.
Publicly at least, Paul firmly asserts that he could beat the Irishman, and he’s given his reasoning why he could do just that.
Paul’s 3-0 boxing record looks impressive on paper, boasting two TKO wins and one KO win. McGregor’s 0-1 record, on the other hand, comes from a sole TKO loss.
On the surface, this looks promising for Jake Paul, but dig a little deeper and it all falls apart. McGregor fought arguably the greatest boxer of all time, while ‘The Problem Child’ has beaten a fellow YouTuber, a retired basketball player and a wrestler just happy for a payday.
McGregor is also known as one of the best strikers in MMA history, with a lethal left hand often felling foes in dramatic fashion.
The History of Jake Paul & McGregor
Jake Paul has been trying to get the attention of McGregor for many months, often taking to social media to poke the bear. This culminated in a highly questionable call out video complete with a $50 million cheque, risky insults about his wife and the sucker punch of an older gentleman in an Irish pub.
Calling out family-friendly wrestlers like Ben Askren seems safe enough, but getting personal with McGregor is much dodgier. This is a man who has been known to fly large groups of his cronies across the pond to exact physical revenge on those who dare insult one of his allies.
Finally, after ignoring Paul for months, McGregor responded with a simple but brilliant tweet: “UFC high level fighting > [greater than] Blogger jackass boxing.”
Ouch.
Paul's Five Reasons
In an interview with SunSport, Paul stated: “First and foremost, I'm a better athlete than McGregor. He never played football, he never played lacrosse, he never wrestled, he was never an All-State football player.
"I'm taller by four inches or so and I'm about 60-pounds, 50-pounds heavier without a weight cut.
"And that's what a lot of people don't understand when I'm hitting these guys, I've got knockout power because I'm cutting down from 210lbs.”
As Ben Askren will attest, having a good career in one athletic discipline does not mean you’ll be a star in another. McGregor also walks around between 170 and 180lbs, so Paul’s weight advantage is overestimated by a good 20lbs.
He continued: “The other side of this is him underestimating me. He's going to come into this, be chilling on his yachts, be babysitting his three little kids, be going out to dinners with his wife, playing in the beach in the sand thinking Jake Paul's a walk in the park. When I'm going to be hustling every single day to beat this guy.
"I'm not just fighting Conor McGregor for the payday; I'm fighting Conor McGregor to beat him and level up after that. This isn't a gimmick. I don't get how or why people haven't registered it yet, but like this isn't a game.
"I train my ass off; I have knockout power and I haven't even got to show off my boxing ability because I've only been in the ring like seven minutes total in my pro career."
On the prospect of facing McGregor-post Dustin Poirier, Paul claimed: "Potentially, it's very, very realistic for sure. I think it depends on how he does against Dustin on July 10."
Paul even revealed a potential career route after McGregor: "Who knows, maybe after I beat McGregor, I fight Khabib.”
McGregor’s career has been built on challenges, whether that be becoming a two-weight world champion, taking on the boxing GOAT or building an empire.
What should be an easy fight against a YouTuber doesn’t seem to sit well with McGregor’s usual decision-making processes. However, if he throws enough money at him, and continues his social media onslaught, maybe Paul manages to snag the biggest fish in the sporting world.