Jake Paul is pulling out all stops en route to continuing his boxing career, and now he is recruiting the “bawse” in his efforts. Paul recently tapped rap star Rick Ross to come with the hefty bag to entice a worthy opponent to face the YouTuber-turned-boxer.
The two took to Instagram together, and Ross laid out his proposition for the next potential contestant in the Jake Paul boxing lottery.
.@RickRoss is putting another $10 million down 👀
Who do you want to see @jakepaul fight next? pic.twitter.com/WtInTmcC82
— betr (@betr) August 23, 2022
“Since everyone seems to be afraid to fight @jakepaul Im down to put another 10 million on top to make the right match happen. What fight would you want to see?” Ross captioned in an Instagram post. “We talking big s–t on the homie podcast so stay tuned.”
Paul has had a hard time lately in getting real boxers to step into the ring with him since he has decided to honor the public’s wish and fight one. He was supposed to settle a grudge match against Tommy Fury, brother to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. However, the U.S. government halted that when they wouldn’t grant the younger Fury a visa in the U.S. for a press conference or at all due to the Fury’s relationship with a fugitive Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan.
Then Hasim Rahman Jr., the son of the former heavyweight champion of the same name, stepped into the picture to challenge Paul and leaped right into a trash-talking fest. Although Rahman fights typically at heavyweight, he convinced Paul and the New York State Athletic Commission that he could make cruiserweight at an agreed-upon 205 pounds.
Jake Paul has requested that his next fight, in October, be contracted at 185 pounds.
— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) August 20, 2022
However, the Commission didn’t believe him and instituted a mandatory weight check via videos from Rahman’s Las Vegas-based camp. When Rahman reportedly hit a wall and couldn’t get down past 215 pounds, his camp tried to renegotiate the bout agreement and change it to 215 pounds. Paul claims he was initially OK with the change but his team advised against it, canceling the bout for fear of an unfair weight advantage.
With Rahman being the first real boxer Paul would have faced, his team’s caution was warranted, as he knocked out all his previous opponents and was riding the wave of an unexpected KO artist into Madison Square Garden. Anything that tampers with Paul’s image as a unicorn in the boxing business is being carefully checked as he utilizes the privilege of having a pay-per-view deal with Showtime.
💤💤💤 pic.twitter.com/l2TaQXkyXy
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) August 21, 2022
Now Paul is turning up the promo with Rick Ross and taking shots online at everyone from fellow YouTuber turned boxer KSI to recently defeated UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Paul started his career by knocking out YouTuber Ali Eson Gib, then began dismantling other nontraditional boxing opponents like Nate Robinson and Ben Askren in his second and third bouts. He secured knockout victories over each.
He then took on former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley via split decision before giving him a rematch and defeating him again via knockout last December.
Jake Paul is bringing a new audience to the boxing world, partly due to collaborations like the one with Rick Ross. Now it’s all about who will accept the challenge.
