Jake Paul tells Kamaru Usman “Challenge accepted”

Image: Jake Paul tells Kamaru Usman "Challenge accepted"
By Boxing News - 04/28/2021 - Comments

By Jeff Aronow: Jake Paul has accepted the challenge made to him by UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman for a boxing match.

Now all YouTuber turned boxer Jake (3-0, 3 KOs) wants is for the 33-year-old Usman to receive permission from UFC president Dana White to crossover to face him in a boxing match.

Without White’s permission, Usman won’t be able to fight Jake, and it would be pointless for the two to continue to discuss fighting.

Jake, 24, pointed out to Usman that he’ll make more money fighting him than he ever has in the past in his MMA fights during his career in that sport.

If Usman could make the kind of money in the UFC that he can by facing Jake, he probably wouldn’t have called him out. It’s not as if Usman can play protector for ALL of the UFC fighters that Jake beats.

Usman can’t base his career defending UFC fighters that can’t handle it inside the boxing ring against Jake Paul. It would be an arduous task for Usman, and he might lose just as bad as them.

There are too many vulnerable fighters in that organization that Jake would likely knockout as he did with Ben Askren.

Usman needs permission from Dana White

Usman is coming off arguably the biggest win of his career with his second-round knockout victory over Jorge Masvidal last Saturday night at UFC 261.

For Usman to continue to ride that momentum from that victory, he needs a fight against Jake because it will not only create more interest in his career from fans that have never heard of him but the money would excellent.

Jake says Usman would receive the “biggest payday” of his career, and he could be right. It’s really not in Dana White’s best interest to let Jake fight Usman or any of his popular fighters in the UFC because he could diminish their star power by beating them.

 

Jake reacts to Daniel Cormier

“Of course, he’s going to challenge me to an MMA fight, of course,” said Jake Paul to ESPN about Daniel Cormier saying he only wants to fight him in the octagon, not inside the boxing ring.

“I find it funny because he’s challenging me with something I’ve never trained in. You want to go against me in something I’ve never trained in, of course.

“He’s going to duck the offer. There’s way more money in boxing. I never said I would beat Daniel Cormier in an MMA fight, but if he comes to box me, I will beat him.

YouTube video

“I think part of him knows that. If we fought, that would be the most amount of money he would make,” said Jake.

Cormier, 42, must have thought long and hard about what could happen to him if he entered the squared circle to fight Jake.

Yeah, the money Cormier would get fighting Jake Paul would likely be far better than what he’d made in the past, but the risk of embarrassment would be high.

Losing to Jake by a knockout could do a number on Cormier’s legacy, causing fans to remember him more for the loss than his victories.

It’s interesting that Cormier so quickly changed his mind about wanting to fight Jake inside the boxing ring. The way that Cormier did an about-face, suggests that maybe he started thinking about a worst-case scenario of what could happen.