You can say it was the summer of the Paul brothers. It started with Logan Paul as he fought Floyd Mayweather in Miami at the start of the summer and ended with Jake taking on Tyron Woodley in their hometown of Cleveland at the end of it.
Both events gained traction with the various fan bases and you can make the argument that the fights were spurred by the polarizing Paul brothers.
This past Sunday, Jake Paul beat Tyron Woodley via split decision in what you might call a pro boxing match although many who watch the sport were aghast by what they say. Frankly, the sport gravitates to the bombastic boxers and grandstanding to promote the fight. Paul has enough appeal and “followers” via his social media that Showtime Boxing felt he was worth building an event around. And based on the chatter, the event will do over 1 million PPV buys as did his brother.
While you may argue Logan Paul-Mayweather buys were driven by the former undefeated champ, the event in Cleveland was all Jake Paul.
Even in his hometown, Paul received a sufficient amount of boos that it was audible over the PPV. The reception was felt throughout the MMA community as almost every octagon/cage fighter backed the aging, former UFC champ Woodley.
While Woodley had one good shot in him in the fourth round, it was all he could muster in terms of action as Paul did enough to garner a split decision.
And while Paul announced that he is a “retired” boxer on Monday, the one rule of combat sports retirement is that exiting sport rarely happens. Just look at Oscar de la Hoya who will step inside the ring again September 11th.
Paul has said all the right things in terms of wanting to be taken seriously in the sport. He’s also championed the rights of paying fighters a fare wage and women’s equality. The latter highlighted by putting Amanda Serrano as a co-feature. And, if you believe the paysheet floating around, he gave the fighter $500K more out of his own purse to pay her. He’s also spoken out against bullying and gave an anti-bullying speech in his post-fight in-ring interview.
Yet, people still don’t buy it. Surely, the YouTuber must be “trolling” everybody with these ‘good deeds.’ Even if this is an act for people to like him, Paul has done more for fighters’ rights than most simply because he’s using his platform to amplify the concerns of many of the ‘working class’ fighters.
Most followers of MMA know that UFC fighters that are not headliners rarely make waves about their pay. And while they may speak out about their financial situation, it is not the UFC’s fault.
Paul, a disrupter by nature, doesn’t care about the UFC because he knows his brand and his audience. He knew if he called out the likes of Conor McGregor, he’d be the one that would get the notoriety. Now, Paul calls the shots and its UFC fighters hoping to chase clout and become his next fight.
The Paul brothers are indicative of today’s young YouTube/social media generation. We shall see how they steer their brands and how many more fights they can get out of their fame.
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In case you missed it, I did another Legal Submission regarding Paradigm’s lawsuit against Manny Pacquiao and what happens next.