The history of boxing is filled with not only some of the greatest fighters in history but also some of the biggest shit-talkers. From Muhammad Ali’s constant stream of trash talk to Mike Tyson’s scary threats, many of the legends turned pre-fight insults into an art form. Let the record show Jake Paul fits right in. The controversial YouTube star turned fighter has taken his trash-talking to another level since knocking out former NBA player Nate Robinson, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Even after his brother Logan Paul called him “fucking dumb” for insulting UFC legend Conor McGregor and his wife, Jake Paul got back on the horse and traded verbal shots with former UFC champion Chris Weidman. Here’s a short recap. Paul dropped a hype video slamming McGregor, saying his wife wasn’t very attractive and challenging him to a pay-per-view fight with a guaranteed $50M purse. Weidman, who is a four time UFC Champion, took a screenshot of the video and commented on how punchable his face is. Without hesitation, Paul fired back and taunted Weidman for losing five of his last seven fights. You can check out the exchange below…
On the one hand, I completely get it from Paul’s perspective, at least when it comes to this exchange. Weidman entered the fray, and if you’re gonna drop insults, you should expect them to come back at you. That being said, it’s still unclear what Paul’s end goal with these fights is. He’s clearly a good boxer compared to… normal people, but there’s a giant difference between fighting someone like Nate Robinson who is merely a good athlete and fighting someone like Conor McGregor or Chris Weidman who fights for a living.
If the goal here is to generate another big pay-per-view event, Jake Paul could likely do that by fighting someone like Conor McGregor. He could, in theory, make millions of dollars and then slide into doing something else. I think there are a lot of people who would take some punches for a few million dollars, but if the goal is to set up a sustained run of boxing matches, then he should consider fighting some more former NBA players or non-fight athletes. A few more wins would generate even more momentum and continue to set up future fights. He could potentially win those too.
Regardless, Jake Paul is a salesman and a shit-talker. As his brother said on a recent episode of Impaulsive, he’s a born villain, which means, regardless of how much people caution him against it or how long the odds might be, he’s going to keep taunting people and keep mixing it up because that’s just who he is. Some people love that about him. Some people hate it. I’m not sure how he feels about those polarized reactions, but my guess is, as long as people keep tuning in, he doesn’t care.
