Jake Paul Is A Genius

Mike Ehrmann. Getty Images.

I got an email this morning from Jake Paul’s team.  Apparently, I am still on their mailing list because we have covered his fights in the past… And I must say, whenever we covered any of his events, Jake has always been incredibly gracious with interviews as both a fighter and promoter. 

This morning’s email was sent for three reasons:

1. To accommodate any media requests that Barstool may have before the final presser and weigh-in. 
2. To further promote Jake’s fight this weekend with Nate Diaz.

And the third point was to flex how robust ticket sales were ahead of Saturday’s event. 

Here are the specific flexes from that third point…

JAKE PAUL VS. NATE DIAZ PAY-PER-VIEW: “READY 4 WAR” THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, SETS NEW RECORD AT AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER 

Very cool record to break… American Airlines Center has been around since 2001 and seats ~ 20,000 for most sporting events that involve a court, field, or rink.  So adding a good number of floor seats around the smaller boxing ring made it possible for this event to eclipse the record capacities of either the Dallas Mavericks, the Arena Football League's Dallas Desperados, or the NHL's Dallas Stars.

JAKE PAUL AND NATE DIAZ ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THEIR STREAK OF SELLOUTS

Again… I am not a hater here, so I applaud Jake’s promotional juggernaut for continuing to sell out arenas by offering surprisingly good undercards and sub-par Main Events.  

I just checked, and there are still some seats going for $32 a pop in the nosebleeds, which is a reasonable price for this circus.  Brings me to their final flex…

RINGSIDE SEATS PRICED AT $5,000 SOLD OUT IN LESS THAN A WEEK

Here’s where I throw the flag, and it is why I am writing this blog…

Who the fuck is paying 5 grand to watch Jake Paul fight a barely-motivated and never-sober Nate Diaz?

Before I go any further, let me reiterate my opinion of Jake Paul… Compared to other writers who cover boxing, I have always been vocal in saying that Jake Paul is not very good AT boxing but is very good FOR boxing… I have a 19-year-old son, who never asked to watch a fight with me until Paul fought Ben Askren. Since that awful matchup, my boy has been watching more bouts… Including those that don't involve TikTokers or out-of-shape retired mixed martial artists. 

That's a good thing for boxing, especially when the sport has to share eyeballs with legitimate competition like the UFC and less-than-legitimate options like the Power Slap League. 

I also have said on many occasions that even though Jake is a mediocre amateur cruiserweight boxer he is one of the greatest self-promoters I have ever seen… And in a day and age where fights don't get made due to contract disputes and/or health-related issues, Team Problem Child has made TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS fighting multiple times a year since 2020.

I don't throw this word around lightly, but Jake Paul is a genius.

Even with those sensibly kind words, my respect for Paul has been questioned since I made a statement on KFC Radio that Jake’s team wound up using as bulletin board material before his loss to Tommy Fury… 

But I can still appreciate what he is doing vs random retired athletes without respecting his ability to compete against real boxers. 

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Back to this VIP thing. 

RINGSIDE SEATS PRICED AT $5,000 SOLD OUT IN LESS THAN A WEEK

First off, buying tickets for ANY boxing match comes with inherent risk.

I’ll go off on a historical tangent here- Imagine you’re a big boxing fan in July of 1986 and you break the bank to get ringside seats for Mike Tyson vs Marvis Frazier. 

We all know who Mike Tyson is, but perhaps you don’t recall that Marvis is the son of former heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer, Joe Frazier. 

As a kid, Marvis was ringside for most of his father's big fights, including the battles Smokin’ Joe had with Muhammad Ali. So seeing this boy follow in his dad’s legendary footsteps was a pretty cool thing to witness in the ‘80s. 

For the fight itself, unlike the 20,000-seat American Airlines Center, the Tyson vs Frazier bout was held at the much smaller Civic Center in scenic Glenn Falls, NY… A venue that barely held 5,000 spectators. 

But again… 20,000 plus people will pay to see a Disney Channel alum box a washed UFC star in 2023, but in 1986, barely 5,000 fans had the means or the motivation to witness live the future of the heavyweight division fight the son of a fucking LEGEND. 

Tyson was 24-0 (with 22 KOs) when he fought a 16-1 Marvis. So although neither had a belt at the time, these weren’t “unknown prospects” when they stepped in the ring. Entering this fight, Tyson was rated #2 in the World Boxing Council’s ratings and Frazier’s only loss was to a historically under-appreciated and dentally-challenged heavyweight champ named Larry Holmes. 

I said people back then "didn’t have the means or motivation" to get to Glen Falls in 1986, but I should also mention that, unlike every big fight today, boxing fans didn’t have to spend a dime to watch this at home. The Tyson-Frazier fight was carried by ABC as part of its Wide World of Sports anthology series, and Jim Lampley was the lead commentator. 

ABC Photo Archives. Getty Images.

Back to the point I made before I took this historical left turn… Buying tickets for ANY boxing match comes with inherent risk. And the few who broke the bank to cheer on either Tyson or Frazier from ringside in 1986 may have felt gypped when Iron Mike knocked Marvis out cold 30 seconds into the First Round. 

Tyson forced Frazier into a corner with a couple of jabs before unleashing two consecutive uppercuts, the second of which knocked Frazier unconscious… Then Tyson hit Frazier a couple more times on his way toward the canvas. 

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Referee Joe Cortez began his ten-count but stopped at five because Marvis was unresponsive. It was the quickest victory of Tyson's professional career and was a HUGE waste of money for the handful of guys who were still in line to get a beer once the opening bell rang… And then STILL there less than a minute later when they were carrying Marvis out on a stretcher.

Fast forward 37 years and I think we’re about to have a new crop of disappointed fight goers… Only this time, they spent the equivalent of 2 month's rent for a shared NY studio apartment.

Take a report.

-Large

To give some shine to the ladies, I mentioned above that Jake's fights feature "surprisingly good undercards and sub-par Main Events"... Well, the undercard for Paul v Diaz once again features Amanda Serrano, a generational female fighter who is very fun to watch.  Amanda is fighting a scrapper who grew up only a couple of blocks away from me in Brooklyn named Heather Hardy…

Hardy versus Serrano was a good fight to watch 4 years ago when they first met up (Serrano won by UD), but 41-year-old Hardy lost another decision in early 2021 and hasn't fought since (over 2 years)… And rust won't help when you are fighting a 34-year-old buzzsaw like Amanda.

Maybe Heather makes it the distance because she's a warrior and the ladies fight 2-minute rounds, but she'll lose a lot of blood in the process.

TAR

-L