Well, it happened. Jake Paul finally stepped up and took a fight against an active elite level boxer in Anthony Joshua, something I personally wasn’t sure we would ever see. He also got beat up, dropped four times and knocked out in the sixth round by a much larger man, something that seemed inevitable, breaking his jaw in the process.

By and large, I think most people who have followed boxing for any period prior to, lets say, Mayweather-McGregor, saw this fight as a horrendous mismatch and possibly dangerous to Paul’s health, though I have also seen people I know and respect in boxing give Paul much more credit as a boxer than anything he has done in the ring up to this point should earn him. Paul (12-2, 7 ko) showed balls in taking the fight and in getting up off the deck three times before getting counted out after the fourth, but spent the first four rounds of the fight literally on the run, circling the perimeter of the ring and making limited attempts at generating offense as Joshua (29-4, 26 ko) stalked and waited for Paul to tire, which would happen towards the end of the 4th as Paul began falling to the canvas every time the two clinched on the inside.

He looked wildly out of his depth and unable to manage to anxiety of the moment, which leads me to my first takeaway.

1. I Am Not Interested in Mismatches

I know I’m old fashioned in that way, but I’m in boxing for the best fighting the best. For the Beterbiev-Bivol’s of the world. The Inoue-Nakatani’s. I’m in it for watching the young up and comers, the Jahmal Harvey’s and and the Abdullah Mason’s of the world. I’ve been this way for 22 years. Theres some of you reading this that have been this way for much longer. It is part of why the interest in Jake Paul as a boxer (NOT as a promoter) has always baffled me.

Why would someone be interested in watching a relatively novice boxer with a limited skillset box with an athlete from another sport? Or an old guy? Why is that interesting? Look at this over here, its Usyk-Fury, surely you’ll find that more interesting, right? Wrong.

Paul found his way to this position through his celebrity and ability to draw a crowd and generate revenue, not his in-ring performances, which on a purely boxing level have told us very little about what kind of fighter he is. His 2024-25 opponent list includes Ryan Bourland, a decent light heavyweight at one time but with one fight in six years prior to their cruiserweight bout; Mike Perry, a successful MMA and BKFC fighter at lower weights but winless in pro boxing; Mike Tyson, nearly 60 years old at the time, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., perhaps Paul’s most credible win against a 40 year old man well known for being unreliable and undisciplined outside the ring. Paul would take a beating over the final three rounds of their fight after Chavez spent the first seven staring into space.

I have always said that celebrities fighting each other would ultimately draw more eyes than world class boxing, and Jake Paul has proven that to be true. And thats fine. My issue with Jake has always been the conflation between what he does and what world class boxers do, how they are developed and the steps it takes to become the best. I think comparing how Jake has come up to young fighters taking developmental fights where they are likely favored in a effort to hit certain benchmarks before moving up in level is disingenuous and hopefully, after a fight like this, people can see how silly of an argument that is. As a sport, I hope we can continue to do everything we can to put this level of hype and resources behind elite level boxing and stop saving it for the sideshow.

Jake Paul has made fights that make average people curious enough to check out our niche sport that has had trouble growing since Floyd Mayweather’s retirement, especially here in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean that the most famous guy should be able to cut the line and get the big one just because they can fill an arena. We already have enough issues with sanctioning bodies ranking fighters because of their notoriety and creating a litany of secondary belts in order to up revenue, with fighters like Ryan Garcia and Teofimo Lopez selling their fights with obscene, ridiculous behavior and ultimately being rewarded for it more than fighters who exclusively let their hands do their talking. Lets get back to developing young talent and making matchups where the outcome is uncertain, which is when boxing is at its best.

2. Weight Classes Exist For A Reason

The fight that was supposed to happen was Jake Paul vs Tank Davis at a 190 lb catchweight, 55 pounds above Davis’ fighting weight at 135, and roughly 25 pounds below what Jake Paul weighed in for fight night. That means a natural weight discrepancy of 80 lbs. When that fight fell through, the fight with Joshua replaced it. That sounds crazy, right?

Perhaps for Jake Paul and his fans, who may be newer here, their may be a lack of understanding of the importance of weight classes in boxing. For one, they keep the sport safer by ensuring that guys of similar size are fighting each other because the spectacle of seeing two very different sized people fighting can be very dangerous, albeit intriguing. In an ideal world, they also allow the athlete to maximize their abilities by consistently performing at the same weight, and having those performances against someone with similar physicality. These are not things Paul has done, as he has fought at a variety of weights, taking Tommy Fury and UFC champion Nate Diaz at 185 lb catchweight, fighting inactive light heavyweights Andre August and Ryan Bourland at cruiserweight, and getting as high as 227 for his bout with Tyson. He fought Chavez at cruiserweight when Chavez best days were at middleweight over a decade ago (a 40 pound difference if you’re new here). This has been justified by the fact that, though he has now been in boxing for nearly seven years, that he is a beginner and therefore should be given leeway to do things other boxers can’t get away with like fighting smaller guys, while at the same time selling us the idea that these fights are part of a natural progression towards becoming elite. The problem is, just last night, I watched Brooklyn’s own Pryce Taylor (10-0, 6 ko) impressively beat Michael Coffie by unanimous decision on the Salita promotions card in Detroit as he continues to ascend the rankings. He has only been boxing two years longer than Paul, as he told me in my episode of “The Fight Life”, taking up boxing through a coworker in 2017, yet nobody would excuse Pryce taking on a fighter from a lower weight class. He is also not constantly celebrated for starting later than the average elite boxer. Part of how Jake can start to transition into serious boxing is to stop treating the sport like a video game and find a fighting weight that works well for him.

3. The is a Bad First Impression For New Fight Fans

Again, if you’re new to the sport, I don’t want you to think that this is what boxing is about.

Because Jake and his promotional outlet set the bar lower for Jake than for other fighters, I think simply surviving a few rounds and having fun as Crystina Poncher pointed out during the broadcast, would be viewed as a victory. It would not be viewed as a victory for any other active fighter. No other fighter could be called brave after straight up running for nine minutes. Its not what we do here, and I am sorry if your’e first and only experiences of boxing have been Jake Paul fights, but trust me, if you stick around for Bam Rodriguez, or David Benavidez, Shock Foster, Shakur Stevenson, the list goes on and on, I PROMISE, you won’t be disappointed. If you showed up for Jake Paul and left intrigued by Jahmal Harvey and Yokaste Valle, or any of the other remarkably talented fighters MVP promotes, I can assure you we have plenty more of those kinds of fighters and matchups for you. We hope that we can make good faith, relatively even matchups with two guys that are trying to win as often as possible, though we often fail in that pursuit as mismatches happen all the time. But no one else but Jake Paul can get a moral victory out of mere survival.

This type of grift doesn’t work in any other sport. Imagine this; your favorite celebrity plays in the NBA all-star weekend celebrity game. They’re a decent pickup player and have a really good game. They then beat a recently retired NFL legend in 1-on-1 basketball. From there they play 60 year old Scottie Pippen in 1-on-1 and win a relatively boring game. That person then thinks they are able to get a slot on an NBA team, and the team picks them up exclusively off of their notoriety and ability to sell seats. They are completely ineffective and out of their depth out of the court and look silly doing it. See where I am going? You take Jake Paul the athlete to any other sport and it falls apart, and it looks like it just about did Friday night in boxing, a sport that has given him so much grace.

I hope that Jake Paul stays in boxing. I hope that he continues to promote women’s boxing and put on quality developmental and world level cards in a sport that is lacking in those types of platforms for fighters. I hope he continues to box if that is what he wants to do. But if, as a fighter, he is going to step into OUR world now, the world of real boxing where fighting guys from other sports does nothing to elevate your ranking or standing, where its TRULY put up or shut up, I think its time we take the kid gloves off and start judging him the same way we would any other boxer. I’m pretty sure thats what he wants.