By Sean Jones: YouTuber Jake Paul weighed in at an in-shape looking 191.5 pounds on Friday or his eight-round fight on Triller pay-per-view against Ben Askren for their fight this Saturday night at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium Atlanta, Georgia. Click here to watch the Fight LIVE ON FITE.
The former 37-year-old UFC star Askren, who is making his pro debut in boxing, weighed in at a fat-looking 191 lbs. Askren, a guy that was an outstanding college and high school wrestler, looked like he didn’t train hard for this fight.
Asken was carrying around a lot of fat around his midsection, which wasn’t there before when he was a top wrestler and when he was with the UFC.
In the sparring video, Askren has shown that he’s going to try and smother Jake by crowding him all night.
Given how Askren has shown the ability to follow a game plan to the letter during his career in MMA and amateur wrestling, it’s likely he won’t deviate from the smothering tactics that he showed in his training.
What we don’t know is if Jake Paul can generate punching power on the inside. He throws with power when he’s got space to throw, but it could be a different story if Askren forces him to fight in close for the full eight rounds.
Jake Paul criticizes Askren for his “beer belly”
With the poor condition that Askren is in now, he can use that as an excuse if he loses to the 24-year-old Jake. It’s hard to understand how a dedicated athlete with Olympic experience could come into a fight in the shape he’s in.
What’s unclear is how many weeks Askren has been training for. Was he grossly out of shape before he started training for the fight, or did he just not care enough to trim the weight off?
“I see a guy that is underestimating me; I see a guy that is taking this as a joke,” said Jake Paul after the weigh-in. “This is the last 24 hours that we have to hear Ben Askren.
“This one means a lot to me. We’ll see, but I don’t think he makes it out of two rounds. I mean, look at the guy.
“He’s got a beer belly. He clearly didn’t take training camp seriously. We all did the talking and entertainment s***, and now it’s time to let the fists fly.
“If you thought for a second that this guy was going to beat my brother, you’re a moron,” said Logan Paul. “Afterwards, everyone will say, ‘We should have seen it coming.”
Other weights on the card:
Regis Prograis 143 vs. Ivan Redkach 142
Steve Cunningham 206 vs. Frank Mir 276
Joe Fournier 187 vs. Reykon 178.5
Junior Younan 171.5 vs. Jeysen Minda 171.5
Quinton Randall 149 vs. William Jackson 144
Easily the most interesting fight on the undercard is the bout between former WBA light welterweight champion Regis Prograis (25-1, 21 KOs) and Ivan Redkach (23-5-1, 18 KOs).
Those two are fighting a 10 round fight. Although it’s clearly a mismatch, it involves true professionals in a slightly competitive fight on paper.
Prograis is looking to pick up his second straight win since losing his WBA 140lb title to Josh Taylor in 2019. Regis wants a fight with Adrien Broner and then takes on the Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez fight winner.
“I’m going to bring the smoke. Definitely tune in for me because I’m going to do my thing,” said Regis Prograis about his fight with Redkach.
“Just because you sign with a promoter, it doesn’t mean they can promote you. You can promote yourself. Someone told me that a long time ago, and I didn’t listen.
“Adrien Broner, someone that sucks right now, he’s not very good, but he’s still getting big money to fight because he promoted himself. Everybody should invest in themselves and promote themselves.
“You have to do it yourself. Just because you sign with a promoter, you might fight two times a year at the most.
“Outside of that, what are you, who are you? I think everybody should promote themselves and invest in their career,” said Prograis.
