YouTube sensation turned boxer Jake Paul churns out headlines the way other people do text messages. Whether it’s something he said or something he did, it’s never difficult to find an army of haters throwing up middle fingers. Some celebrities might pretend the noise doesn’t exist, but Jake Paul is comfortable with who he is and the reaction he gets from people.
The rising combat sports star made a recent appearance on The Cruz Show on Los Angeles radio station REAL 92.3, and during his appearance, he talked candidly about a lot of issues including how much people seem to hate him. He didn’t deflect or argue. He acknowledged it and said he’s not mad about it. You can check out a portion of his quote below...
I’m polarizing. I rub a lot of people the wrong way. There’s the other side who have really embraced me. I’m not mad at it. I am who I am. My friends are my friends, and like Drake said, ‘I don’t need new friends.’
Now, it might seem like he’s deflecting a bit by saying there are people who have embraced him, but he’s absolutely correct. There are plenty of people who have embraced him including some really big names because of what he’s done for the sport of boxing. That’s really the dividing line for a lot of people. Jake Paul has emerged within the lsat year as one of the single biggest draws in boxing. His pay per views have put up more than a million buys, which is really hard to do.
To some, all his interviews and his outrageous behavior are undermining boxing and giving the sport a negative, cartoonish reputation. To others, he’s bringing attention and a new sense of fun that has been missing for too long. Some including UFC Head Dana White have been very open with their criticism, but several legends have embraced Jake Paul. He spoke about some of those who have shown him love during the same interview...
I’ve gotten a ton of love. Even publicly, Mike Tyson has embraced me. Evander Hollyfield has embraced me. My brother was chilling with Manny Pacquiao yesterday. The Charlo Brothers have shown love. Sometimes the negativity shines brighter, and it’s easy to look past the positive people who are supporting, but I’m just bringing more eyeballs to the sport. That’s all I wanna do.
There are no doubt some people are buying these Jake Paul pay per views because they want to see him get knocked out. It doesn’t sit well with them that he calls out people’s wives, makes fun of knockouts and prank calls coaches. I get it. Some of the behavior rubs me the wrong way too, but it also injects energy, excitement and publicity into a sport that’s all too often lacking it. He clearly has an awareness he’s doing it, but I think some people are just born to play the villain. Besides, a hater’s money counts the same as a supporter’s.
Jake Paul is next set to fight Tyron Woodley on August 29th in Cleveland. It’s a huge fight for the mega-star. If he wins, he should be able to attract an even bigger name for his next fight. He’s been clear about wanting that person to be Conor McGregor. With a recent string of losses, that now seems possible (at least after he recovers from an injury). Such a fight would likely attract one of the highest pay per view buy rates in history, but in order to get there, Paul needs to keep winning. I’d say he needs to keep generating headlines too, but we all know that won’t be a problem.
