YouTube influencer Jake Paul is a very unlikeable person whose whole career is built on being as annoying as possible and being shady while doing it, but does this disqualify him from being a boxer? No.
Unlike most professional boxers, Paul got his start fighting other YouTube influencers, skipping the preliminaries and gaining fame by way of extending his online beef into the real world. However, do his internet crusades disqualify him from being a boxer? Again, the answer is no.
If you’re in a boxing match for money and the fight is sanctioned by one of boxing’s major governing bodies, which manage pro fights worldwide, then you are a professional boxer by definition.
Paul has met this criteria three times already and has even gone 3-0 in his fights against fellow YouTuber Ali Eson Gib, also known as AnEsonGib, former NBA player Nick Robinson and former MMA fighter Ben Askren, according to Paul’s BoxRec entry, a database of boxers.
Of course, cynics may point out that two of his three wins were against fighters who aren’t known for their boxing skills and Askren, who went 19-2-1 before retiring from the MMA arena in 2019 and wasn’t exactly known for his striking ability, according to CBS Boxing.
But at the end of the day, they were all sanctioned and paid professional fights.
On the other hand, if what disqualifies Paul is being an unlikeable and crappy person, his career would have ended soon after it began. According to a Nov. 2020 Insider article, Paul’s public stunts include a laundry list of terrible things: from being the neighbor from hell to his coronavirus denialism, from scamming children to being accused of rape – he’s just
the worst.
But if that disqualifies him from being a pro boxer, then many other traditional boxers should also be removed from the sport.
According to the Bleacher Report, other well-known boxers have exhibited questionable behavior ranging from crappy to heinous.
For instance, Floyd Mayweather was a domestic abuser and allegedly had one of his employees kidnapped.
Ike Ibeabuchi kidnapped his then-girlfriend’s 15-year-old son and remained in the pro boxing circuit. He was only removed after he assaulted a woman and was sent to prison as a result.
And of course, who can forget Mike Tyson, who famously bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear during a fight and is also a convicted rapist who went to federal prison for three years.
Unfortunately, being a bad person doesn’t disqualify one from being a boxer and in this case, Paul fits perfectly.
At the end of the day, it’s the numbers that matter. Paul is a professional boxer because he boxes professionally, as redundant as that sounds. Not to mention, he’s also valuable to the industry.
Tyson, who still holds some sway and respect in the industry, said as much in a post-event press conference after Paul’s bout
with Robinson.
“Boxing owes these guys – YouTube Boxers – some respect,” Tyson said in a November 2020 Insider article. He also brought up how YouTubers such as Paul bring new life to the sport, often bringing their 20 million subscribers with them as a new audience and helping the sport stay competitive with the UFC, boxing’s MMA counterpart.
Paul might be repugnant, but it looks like he’s here to stay and he’s got as much as a right as anyone to do so. If a side effect of his presence is that the world of boxing stays alive, so be it – at least until there’s a real reason to remove him from the ring.
