Sports

The Youtube Con: How Jake Paul Is Ruining Boxing

Darren Ryding - July 12, 2024

Sports

The Youtube Con: How Jake Paul Is Ruining Boxing

Darren Ryding - July 12, 2024

Jake Paul is one of the most famous YouTubers on the planet. The polarizing online star ignited the current wave of celebrity boxing matches that has stormed the internet over the past couple of years. Since then, Paul has rattled cages and made millions of dollars. However, he remains a controversial figure with questions about his true motives and achievements.

He recently lost the first match of his controversial boxing career against Tommy Fury this past weekend. Today we’ll look at 20 reasons why Paul is a fraud after he mainly fought retired MMA stars far past their primes in the boxing ring. He found defeat against the first actual boxer he fought in Fury. Many believe he’s also damaging the combat sports world with his wacky exploits. Find out why here.

Exploits Children

There’s no denying that Paul has made a career out of exploiting children. Young boys think he’s awesome because of his YouTube channel. Originally, he left the Disney channel and started doing crazy stunts. Then he started milking his young fans for cash with several self-help scams. We’ll look at these in more detail later because they’re strange.

Meanwhile, Paul uses controversial advertising tactics on his channel. He also continued to target his main base when he became a boxer. In 2023, he fought Fury in Saudi Arabia. Usually, pay-per-view fights take place on a Saturday night but he opted for a Sunday afternoon. It’s a small detail but it’s the type of decision that makes someone millions of dollars (via Polygon).

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Broken Askren

Ben Askren was Paul’s first official combat sports opponent. He previously fought a Youtuber and a retired basketball player before facing “Funky” in the boxing ring. Nobody knew Paul’s level before this fight and many people favored Askren in this match. But Paul selected Askren because he was the most beatable mainstream name available. Askren won championships in MMA with Bellator and ONE. Later, he also fought for the UFC and was an entertaining trash-talker.

But Askren based his entire fighting style on his wrestling base. His striking and therefore boxing was horrible because he rarely used it in the cage. Furthermore, the veteran underwent a hip replacement before facing Paul. He was also significantly smaller and this gave Paul a massive advantage. In the end, Paul exploited Askren and humiliated him (via DAZN).

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Bad For Boxing

One of the myths about Paul’s recent rise is that he will save boxing. But this is a ridiculous claim because he’s actually damaging the sport. Let’s caveat this by saying that boxing is already its own worst enemy. The top contenders rarely fight each other because promoters don’t want their cash cows to lose. Meanwhile, there are far too many belts and far too much corruption.

Nonetheless, it’s crazy to portray Paul as boxing’s savior. First, he targets MMA fans instead of pure boxing fans because he mostly fights people from that sport. He also damages the sport because he isn’t a good boxer. Paul had some good knockouts but otherwise, his fights are garbage. He spends more time in the ring hugging opponents than hitting them (via SBNation).

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PFL Shenanigans

In 2022, Paul made headlines when he signed a deal with PFL. The MMA promotion promised that he would participate in their new ‘Super Fights’ division. However, the reality is that Paul isn’t going to fight for them anytime soon. It’s more likely that he will work in a promotional role for the organization.

Let’s give him credit where it’s due because he is good at that. Paul helped to drive interest in the Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano title clash. But does anybody believe that he will take an MMA fight against anyone that isn’t weight in his favor? It’s probably not going to happen and he’s honey-trapping people again (via Bleacher Report).

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Fighter Pay Lie

Paul likes to claim that he supports fighters and wants to see them receive fair payment. MMA and more specifically the UFC notoriously under-compensates its athletes with UFC President Dana White the biggest perpetrator. ‘The Problem Child’ went head-to-head with White on social media over this issue and attracted a lot of attention.

Some naive people genuinely thought that Paul cared about the fighters. However, he was trying to generate clicks and enhance his profile. We love the innocence of anybody who believes otherwise but this is a cruel world. MMA and boxing are dirty businesses so it’s really not surprising (via Essentially Sports).

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The Diaz Deal

According to acclaimed MMA journalist Ariel Helwani, Nate Diaz agreed to fight Jake Paul in 2023. The Diaz camp was ready to go in February but Paul rejected them. This was idiotic because he may have missed one of the biggest match-ups of his life. Now Diaz is going after Paul’s older brother, Logan.

In the end, Paul fought Tommy Fury and lost the match. He thought that Fury would be a more winnable opponent and wanted the easy payday. But his shambolic performance showed that he’s not about this life. It will be fascinating to see what happens with Paul after this because he wasn’t good at all (via FirstSportz).

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Bad Neighbor

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Paul isn’t a nice human being. He made life miserable for his neighbors as he terrorized his street in West Hollywood. The content creator regularly filmed wacky stunts and infuriated the people around him. These included motorcycle stunts on his street and a fire in his garden.

In the end, the neighborhood called the police and declared him a public nuisance. This isn’t the type of person that parents should want their children to watch. He doesn’t care about anybody except himself and the numbers in his bank account. He also infamously leaked his address so hundreds of people came to the area (via NPR).

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Basketball KO

Nate Robinson was a good basketball player and an excellent athlete. However, he wasn’t a proper boxer and a few months of training didn’t change this. Paul fought Robinson after his victory over a fellow YouTuber, AnEnsonGib. He starched the former Knicks star in the second round of their bout.

This attracted a lot of attention because of their profiles. There was also some condemnation because of Robinson’s head trauma. Critics said that people shouldn’t just jump into boxing because it isn’t safe. It also gave a false representation of Paul’s talents because he wasn’t fighting a decent opponent (via Bleacher Report).

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Crypto and NFT Fraud

It feels like nobody is talking about cryptocurrencies anymore. That’s because of several scandals, crashes, and the realization that NFTs don’t have any material value. Needless to say, Paul made a quick buck off the cryptocurrency boom. He influenced his young fans to buy Sacred Devils NFTs.

In the end, everybody suffered almost total losses from this failed project. But Paul netted a couple of million dollars from the scheme. It’s alleged that Paul had a hand in six different crypto schemes and made a fortune. However, they failed as enterprises and everybody else lost their cash (via Wing).

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MMA Fan Exploitation

Paul brilliantly exploited MMA’s passionate fanbases. There’s a reason why he didn’t fight a proper boxer until his seventh bout. He knew that it would be easier to beat MMA fighters because of their more limited striking. But it also meant that more MMA fans watched his matches than boxing purists (via MMA Fighting).

He intelligently escalated the jeopardy of his boxing career. Paul fought Askren before the hard-hitting Woodley. Then he faced the aged icon, Anderson Silva, one of the greatest MMA strikers ever. But each of these athletes carried a handicap into their matches. MMA fans watched because they wanted to see their favorites beat him.

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Diluted Boxing

Paul fans say that he is introducing the sport to a new demographic. But the reality is that he’s diluting it with his shoddy fights and dumb belts. The WBC announced that Paul and Fury would fight for the Diriyah Belt, a ceremonial title. Instantly, critics labeled it the ‘Diarrhea Belt’ (via Daily Star).

They also lambasted the WBC for devaluing their product. Allegedly the WBC was ready to give him a top ranking if he won that match. This is unfair to dedicated athletes who dream of reaching the top of the sport. Meanwhile, fans watch a weaker version of the sport that’s more akin to white-collar boxing.

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Abusive Relationships

Another issue with Paul is that he is allegedly an abusive partner. Model Railey Lollie accused Paul of groping her without her consent. Reportedly, she was 17 and he referred to her as ‘jailbait.’ Meanwhile, another influencer, Justine Paradise accused him of forcing her to commit sexual acts and abuse (via Insider).

Former partners also said that he participated in emotional abuse and made their lives a nightmare. But Paul pretends that he is a white knight riding to save a sport. The truth is that he’s purportedly not a good person and a terrible role model. This also makes it more reasonable to hate him.

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Woodley Woes

We’ll give Paul credit because he stepped into a ring with a former UFC champion. But there’s no pretending that Tyron Woodley is a great boxer. The MMA star possessed fearsome knockout power but had limited technical boxing skills. Paul exposed this when they fought twice with the second bout coming on short notice.

These were very frustrating matches because Woodley refused to throw his hands. He rattled Paul in the first match with one strong connection but failed to follow up. In the end, some people called it a fix because of his limited output. However, Paul’s wins didn’t make him the next incarnation of Muhammad Ali despite beating Woodley twice (via TalkSport).

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Edfluence

We mentioned earlier that Paul has a pernicious influence on children. But he actively tried to exploit them with two devious moneymaking schemes. Let’s talk about Edluence, one of Paul’s guides to becoming a successful influencer. He charged fans seven dollars to unlock a series of content to start on this path.

However, they contained basic and ridiculous tips like ‘own a cellphone.’ None of this was groundbreaking information and it ripped people off. This was a horrible thing to do because people bought these guides in good faith. Paul exploited vulnerable and gullible people for cold hard cash (via The Verge).

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Boring Fighter

One of the myths about Paul’s boxing career is that he is one of the most exciting athletes on the planet. The reality is that he has very average skills and struggles with the fundamentals. His footwork is terrible and he over-relies on his power. Yes, he got some highlight reel finishes but the overall fights were garbage.

Paul clinches like a child hugging their mother on the first day of school. The Woodley fights were terrible and it was lucky that he smashed him. The problem is that casuals think this is high-level boxing. It’s bad for the sport because they may think it’s boring and the quality is shocking (via Manchester Evening News).

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Rigged Contract Rumors

Let’s caveat this by saying there’s never been hard evidence that Paul rigged his fights. However, a leaked script before the Fury bout ignited fears that this was a scam. It wasn’t the first time that Paul attracted heat as people accused Tyron Woodley of diving. In the end, he lost the Fury fight and this wasn’t in the script.

Even if Paul doesn’t rig the fights it’s clear he has the referees and commentary on his side. He received biased decisions in all of his bouts. Meanwhile, the commentators always favor him and overlook the opponent’s good work. Furthermore, they even interviewed his brother in the middle of the Fury bout (via SportBible).

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Old Anderson

It says a lot about Paul’s career that his best win was over a 47-year-old MMA fighter. Anderson Silva is brilliant but he’s not the wizard that he was as a young man. In the end, Paul’s conditioning was too much for the Brazilian legend as he won a decision. But it left a bad taste in many people’s mouths.

That’s because they don’t want to see their favorite MMA fighters risk their health against a man in his prime. Paul tried to paint the narrative that he defeated a striking icon but this isn’t true. He beat Silva’s shadow in a tight match-up that didn’t excite the masses. That’s the story of Paul’s boxing career (via MSN).

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Team 1000

This is the second part of Paul’s exploitative money-making schemes. After people joined Edfluence they could take another step and join Team 1000. They paid $57 for the privilege of joining his famous Internet clique. But this proved to be a scam and they only received a few bonus videos.

Meanwhile, the original website for Edfluence no longer exists so people lost their purchases. Amazingly, Paul got away with this but he attracted a lot of condemnation. Somehow, he retains a massive and loyal fanbase. It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t care about anybody but himself (via CCN).

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Exploits Older Fighters

Another issue with Paul is that he is exploiting older fighters. He recognizes that they have limited options after they leave the UFC. Then he teases them with the chance of a major payday before humiliating them. It says a lot that he fought a pair of smaller wrestlers and a quinquagenarian in Anderson Silva (via The Mirror).

Meanwhile, he is interested in facing Nate Diaz because of the MMA legend’s profile. Remember, Diaz has a lot of scar tissue on his face and is smaller than Paul. It’s another winnable match-up for ‘The Problem Child.’ He also had links to a clash with Michael Bisping. The former UFC middleweight champion has one eye and underwent multiple knee surgeries.

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The Fury Loss

Paul is a fraud because he lost against the first proper boxer he fought. Remember, Tommy Fury doesn’t belong in the same conversation as his brother Tyson. The younger Fury’s wins came against opponents with a collective record of 24-176-5. This is ludicrous but he was still better at boxing than Paul’s previous MMA rivals.

The YouTuber had no answer for Fury’s jab and spent more time clinching than anything else. He claimed one knockdown but didn’t win that round either because he lost a point. The split decision was a joke but that’s typical of boxing’s corruption. Finally, the world discovered Paul’s level and realized that level isn’t very good (via The Guardian).

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The Youtube Con: How Jake Paul Is Ruining Boxing

The Youtube Con: How Jake Paul Is Ruining Boxing

Exploits Children

Broken Askren

Bad For Boxing

PFL Shenanigans

Fighter Pay Lie

The Diaz Deal

Bad Neighbor

Basketball KO

Crypto and NFT Fraud

MMA Fan Exploitation

Diluted Boxing

Abusive Relationships

Woodley Woes

Edfluence

Boring Fighter

Rigged Contract Rumors

Old Anderson

Team 1000

Exploits Older Fighters

The Fury Loss

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