Is Jake Paul a good boxer? It's a debate that still ranges in sports circles. Despite being 6-1 in his career, Paul's record comes with a lot of caveats. His first two fights came against a YouTube and a retired NBA player. Then there came a pair of fights against retired MMA star Tyron Woodley. However, Woodley was making his pro boxing debut in the first of those two fights. That has been a common theme with Paul's opponents. Even those who have experience as fighters (Woodley, Ben Askren, and Anderson Silva), none of them were seasoned boxers.
This became even more evident when Paul took on boxer Tommy Fury. It marked the first defeat of Paul's career and showed that he had a long way to go against fighters who had made their career in the ring. However, that hasn't stopped Paul, who is set to fight former UFC star Nate Diaz in August. Furthermore, Paul has been adamant about getting a chance to fight Conor McGregor in the future. Now, former Paul victim Ben Askren has opened up about his fight with Paul.
Ben Askren Underestimated Paul
Askren opened up about his fight with Paul on Daniel Cormier's YouTube channel. “I didn’t think Jake Paul would beat Tyron [Woodley] or Anderson Silva. So yeah, I kind of think so. It sounded like fun [to box him] and I hoped he sucked. We didn’t know at that point! At that point, he only boxed a comedian or something and a basketball player. So we didn’t know nothing. I thought, ‘Oh, hopefully, this dude’s just a bum. He’s gonna try and hit me hard for a round, he’s gonna get tired, then I’m gonna beat him up.’ We didn’t know he was any good.”
Furthermore, Askren advocated for Paul to get the chance to fight Conor McGregor. “I think McGregor times Jake Paul makes everyone a lot of money and I think if he beats up Nate Diaz it makes a lot of sense. I don’t know what Conor’s contract is or what his relationship is with UFC where he can go get it done but I think a lot of people buy that fight. There’s a lot of casual fans who just want to see a boxing match and you know what, Jake Paul’s actually not bad at boxing, and maybe I’m just trying to make myself feel better potentially, but he did beat Tyron, he did beat Anderson Silva.”
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