YouTubers box professional fighters; Paul brothers’ prepare for upcoming matches

Ben Iampieri, Reporter

     The Paul brothers are expanding their boxing careers and already getting ready for fights against professional boxers, with little experience in going against high-level fighters.

     Logan Paul is confirmed to be fighting Floyd Mayweather in an exhibition bout on February 20. Mayweather has a record of 50-0 and has been boxing for over 20 years. Paul hopes to find an opportunity to hit him with one big punch and knock him out. Mike Tyson speaks on the fight when he goes on Paul’s Impaulsive. “Floyd is going to beat your [butt].”

     Jake Paul is going to fight Ben Askren in March, then Dillon Danis later in 2021. Askren is trying to trash talk Paul. “I’m going to make a whole bunch of money to beat up a guy who is pretending to be an athlete,” he says. “You’ve deluded yourself into thinking you’re actually a fighter. It’s quite impressive that beating up another YouTuber somehow makes you good at boxing–because it doesn’t.”

     Along with Jake Paul’s confirmed fights, he has been trying to taunt other MMA fighters into brawling him. Paul offered Conor McGregor 50 million dollars to fight him, along with insulting him and his family. The president of the UFC, Dana White, speaks out in an interview with TMZ Sports. He said Paul and his older brother “have done a good job at injecting themselves into the fighting world, [but fighting] Nate Robinson and Conor McGregor are two different things.”

     Logan Paul’s professional career consists of one fight, which was a rematch against Olajide Olatunji, also known as KSI, after a tie in a white-collar amatuer match. He lost to a split decision in round six, making his professional boxing career record 0-1.

     Looking at the beginning of Jake Paul’s career, he had his first fight in February of 2018. He fought YouTuber Deji Olatunji as the undercard bout before their older brothers KSI and Logan Paul fought. Jake Paul won the fifth round from a technical knockout. Starting with Paul’s professional career, he fought another YouTuber, AnEsonGib, on January 30, 2020. He claimed victory after a TKO in round one. Next, on November 28, 2020, he fought former NBA player Nate Robinson and won in the second round with a KO, giving him a boxing record of 2-0.

     There are mixed opinions about the Paul brothers becoming boxers. “I don’t mind them. They bring excitement and seem to be wrapping kids into boxing because of their platforms on YouTube,” sophomore Cruz Cespedes says. “I don’t think they are causing any harm to the sport.”