Magazine Archive: Jake Paul: Boxing’s Best Heel or Biggest Opportunist? (Patreon)

By Carlos Toro, Fightful Magazine Issue 6

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In the middle of a hot August afternoon, the always-eccentric Jake Paulappeared in front of the media shirtless and adorned with jewelry around his neck for the final press conference ahead of a fight against former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, with chaos ready to ensue in some way, shape or form.

Like clockwork, an altercation between both fighters’ teams occurred right as the presser concluded with someone from Paul’s entourage antagonizing Woodley’s mother of all people. Both sides resorted to shoving each other in the middle of a lavish ballroom at the Hilton Cleveland Downtown with anyone within five feet from the incident (including this writer) unable to immediately escape, feeling swarmed by the dozens of media members and non-media individuals looking to capture the action and at risk of getting hurt one way or another.

That’s the kind of environment someone like Jake Paul is at risk of inviting every time he’s in the ring. It’s one of the many, many reasons why he’s looked at by many pundits as the sport’s biggest heel.

Of course, it’s easy to point out that someone like Paul, a social media celebrity who had no boxing experience before a couple of years ago, is bad for the sport. The main argument for that point is the fact that Paul is not an actual boxer and is masquerading as one. At the end of the day, Paul is just as much of a professional boxer as Anthony Joshua,Vasiliy Lomachenko, and Canelo Alvarez, sporting a 4-0 record in the paid ranks.

But even as Paul claims he respects the craft and has been going through training camp in the same way that boxers usually do, it still hasn’t stopped him from making outlandish claims.

“When I started boxing, I didn’t think I’d be here this fast. My original goal was to fight Conor McGregor or Floyd Mayweatherbecause I knew I would be a big enough pay-per-view draw to do those things. Now I want to become world champion. I want to fight and beat Canelo Alvarez. This has been a fast, quick roller coaster ride, but I didn’t expect to be here. I just knew I loved fighting and I knew I was good at it,” Paul said in a press conference days before scoring a split decision win against Woodley.

Seeing Paul fight in the ring clearly shows that he’s nowhere near being considered a viable contender. In fact, most boxing prospects starting out would likely beat Paul. Still, that has not stopped him from landing seven-figure paydays inside the ring, paydays that only a few boxers could achieve nowadays. That fact alone is enough to tick off many people within the sport.

If boxing in 2021 has proven anything, it’s that nothing should come as a surprise, which is why the thought of Jake Paul being one of Showtime’s top pay-per-view draws in recent years hardly registers an emotion resembling anything close to shock these days. These days, the sport is littered with celebrities, social media influencers, and boxing legends who are closer in age to picking up social security checks than being in their primes fighting for world titles. At the center of it all is Paul, who has financially benefited the most from this new sub-genre of boxing.

It’s no secret that Paul’s popularity is thanks in part to the many controversies he’s sparked throughout his adult life, from multiple encounters with law enforcement to sexual assault allegations (of which Paul has denied), and everything in between.

For all intents and purposes, Paul is every bit the heel everyone views him to be. Once he revealed that he would be boxing as a professional, the sport immediately shunned him, labeling him a pariah who will hurt boxing’s image.

Four fights in, Paul faced several non-boxing athletes inside the ring, including former NBA star Nate Robinsonand former MMA fighter Ben Askren, all the while producing some of the biggest pay-per-view buyrates in the past few years.

Paul’s popularity outside the ring is not due to his skills. He’s not a world-class boxer and the interest in his fights comes from a desire to see him get knocked out. It's definitely not due to genuine curiosity about his development as a fighter. While his events are the talk of boxing whenever they occur, similar major events headlined by world champions don’t often garner that same level of attention. The frustration from boxing’s hardcore and rabid fanbase stems from viewers wanting to watch someone like Paul box instead of the already-established fighters and champions who’ve been working hard for years to reach a fraction of Paul’s audience.

In some regard, yes, Paul is one of boxing’s biggest heels. But he’s been able to use the fact that he’s so hated by many and turn it into a very lucrative pro boxing career. Nevermind that his Boxrec page lists four different opponents who’ve never had a sanctioned boxing fight in their lives, the fact of the matter is he’s a professional pugilist in every sense of the word.

People inside the sport don’t like that he’s been able to profit off of it. They believe Paul's mere presence is enough to set the sport back decades, forgetting the fact that lackluster matchups, multiple world titles and incompetent judging has damaged boxing far more than a YouTuber lacing up their gloves. However, those instances don't have a face to blame them on. In that sense, Paul is a scapegoat.

That’s not to say there’s nothing negative about Paul entering the squared circle. His decision to fight gave other celebrities and athletes the idea that they can do the same, despite them being woefully underprepared for the rigors that come with boxing.

But there is also another reason why Paul is considered such a heel in boxing, one that people don’t like to admit. Many of boxing’s biggest names fail to produce much of the same hype that Paul’s fights produce and one can argue that they, and many other boxers, deserve to have this kind of spotlight shine on them instead of Paul.

So why is it that Paul can attract such a large audiencewithout much experience? The answer is simple. Paul is a business-savvy individual who knows how to promote and market himself to the point that almost anything he does is considered mainstream news, for better and for worse.

Paul’s popularity making an easy transition to the boxing public highlights a glaring problem the sport has faced for most of the 21st century and that is creating new mainstream stars. Sure, the past couple of decades have given us Floyd Mayweather Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, and Canelo Alvarez, but it always feels like boxing is missing a transcendent star to bring the “Sweet Science” back to the public consciousness outside of a few big shows every year.

Boxing fans don’t want to admit it, but Paul is bringing new eyes to the sport. The longevity of those eyeballs staying in the sport is another topic for another day, but he is bringing a new audience nonetheless. How many fighters can say that nowadays? Perhaps only a few, at best.

Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinozaand I shared a laugh and a few moments after the altercation at the Paul vs. Woodley press conference. There was one thing he said that jumped out to me. It was obvious that Showtime saw the business that Paul’s fights were doing and wanted to jump on that train. But what I didn’t expect Espinoza to tell me is how much Paul wants to grow the sport of boxing.

“At a certain level, it becomes, ‘Who do we jump in business with?’ Jake was an easy call. We saw the three events that he did. Obviously, he’s got a huge fanbase, does a lot of business. But more importantly for us, it was the commitment to growing the sport. Once we started the conversation and heard first-hand how much he respects the sport and how much he decides to grow it and his plans to grow it, then overall, even the most hardcore of purists will find that this is something that will be good for the sport,” Espinoza said.

The 24-year-old Paul claimed that he made a real push to haveAmanda Serrano’sfeatherweight title defense against Yamileth Mercadobe the co-main event to his bout against Woodley. It was all an effort to help elevate women’s boxing and Paul has even reportedly joined forces with Serrano to try and secure a super fight against undisputed lightweight champion Katie Taylor. If Paul does end up being a key reason for Taylor vs. Serrano becoming a reality, it further fuels the idea that Paul, for as cringe-inducing as some of his antics are, might actually become a force for good for boxing.

Should that be the case, some might feel compelled to admit that Paul is good for boxing and succeeding in ways that the sport could not accomplish in years. It exposes many people’s inadequacies in what they may deem as an embarrassment given that a social media star of all people could disrupt the status quo, something that has been needed.  In that way, boxing will always root against Paul even if it ultimately comes to the detriment of the sport. That’s not to say Paul is some savior or that his legacy in boxing will be a positive one, but the possibility of that happening makes him all the more hated.

So long as Jake Paul continues to want to box, there will be a massive audience to see him lose and get beaten.

In pro wrestling’s history, some of the best heels are the ones that will always have a sea of people to see them get humiliated. Given boxing’s tendencies to delve into pro wrestling-like behaviors, no matter how you look at it, one thing is clear: Jake Paul is perhaps boxing’s greatest heel today and he will continue to benefit financially while he’s riding this wave for as long as he wants.

Carlos Toro has quickly emerged into one of the top boxing journalists and has worked with Fightful since 2016, covering MMA and pro wrestling. He also handles financial analysis for the site.

Twitter: @CarlosToroMedia