Jake Paul Calls Out Conor McGregor, Canelo Álvarez Ahead Of Upcoming Fight With Tyron Woodley
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - His official bio may read, "YouTuber, actor, social media influencer, boxer and rapper," but according to Jake Paul, everything but boxing is taking a backseat.
The 24-year-old, who became a recognizable name through his social media channels (over 16 million followers on Instagram and 20 million on YouTube) sat down with Lisa Hillary to discuss his upcoming fight with Tyron Woodley, his $50 million dollar offer to fight Conor McGregor (which has since been reduced to $23) and longterm plans to become a ranked boxer, beat Canelo Álvarez and become a world champion.
Lisa Hillary
How do you think you match up against the 39-year-old?
Jake Paul
I think it's a perfect matchup, to be honest, you know it's gonna be the hardest fight of my career thus far, you know, like you said he's a five-time UFC champion. He has knockout power, you know he's been in there with some of the best fighters and his UFC Hall of Famer. I am just so determined and I've been working so hard with my team, that anything that he does on August 29th, I'm gonna have an answer for it.
Lisa Hillary
Is there a boxer out there that going into this fight that you emulate that you're looking at the way, you know, he worked out and he trained in order to get to this fight in Cleveland?
Jake Paul
You know, I'm inspired by a lot of fighters. The Klitschko brothers, Oscar De La Hoya. And, you know, I like to fight like Klitschko use my jab stay on the outside. And I'm motivated by the people who doubt me and the people who say, "Oh, you're not a real fighter, Jake". "Oh, we can't wait to see you get knocked out," because a lot of people tune in to see me lose because they don't like me, and I use, use that to my advantage and training I know that it motivates me.
Lisa Hillary
The fight is taking place August 29th in your hometown of Cleveland. Is it more pressure, given that scenario to fight in front of your peers?
Jake Paul
I think it definitely adds a little bit of pressure for sure, you know, because I'm gonna want to perform well my old wrestling coaches my old football coaches, you know, they're going to be in attendance, watching and that definitely adds a little bit of pressure, but in my career, I've found myself to work good under pressure and me and my coaches say, no pressure, no diamond.
Lisa Hillary
I understand there's a tattoo on the line. Where did this come about how did this come about?
Jake Paul
Yeah, so, you know, today, we had our press conference, Tyron didn't want to take a bet before that had to do with money, so I was like okay, let's make a fun little bet, Tyron. If you lose, you have to get, 'I Love Jake Paul' tattooed on you somewhere on your body and post on your Instagram feed. And if you by chance happen to be beaten, I have to get, 'I Love Tyron Woodley' tattooed on me. So, the fight he just got even more excited, and we'll see if he's a man of his word because I'm gonna be him, and we'll see if he gets the tattoo.
Lisa Hillary
Jake, for those that aren't adept in the world of social media, why do you think that boxing has gained such an immense amount of traction in the social media community and so quickly?
Jake Paul
I think the, you know, the generation that's coming up, Gen Z. They love the back and forth, they love the controversy, they love the drama of the fights, and at the end of the day, you know, there's no other sport like boxing, and it's making a big comeback. If you're walking down the street and you see two people fighting. You're gonna stop and watch them fight, it's our natural human instinct. And so I think with all these other sports becoming softer and the NFL doesn't want you know the crazy tackles anymore. The kids want violence and I think boxing is really the outlet right now for that.
Lisa Hillary
Thanks to guys like yourself there has been, you know so much media attention given to the fights, outside of major boxing sanctioning bodies but yet there are still fans that are tired of hearing about, you know, a social media star, a YouTuber turned boxer. What do you have to say to those fans?
Jake Paul
I would say give it a chance, like I understand why people wouldn't be open to it at first, but me personally I'm training, just like a real fighter. I'm taking it very seriously my whole entire life is dedicated to this from the meals to the recovery to ice baths, barring some of the best people in the world. I take it very, very seriously so yes I was a YouTuber, yes I was on Disney Channel, but now I'm a professional fighter.
Lisa Hillary
You had a front-row seat recently to the Conor McGregor/Poirier fight in Vegas. I watched a lot of us watched it, I want to hear from you. How did you see that fight play out?
Jake Paul
I saw a man being Conor McGregor, who, who is out of his element, it's almost like his act came crumbling down. And he's now being exposed for the lack of preparation and I think the lack of commitment he has for the sport anymore. Like his time, his time is up almost you know Dustin Poirier was winning the fight and snapped his ankle and half, and I was wearing my sleeping McGregor chain. That was almost like a voodoo doll, And that flourishing came to life he was asleep on the canvas. After the fight, did you guys make any eye contact at any point, that day. So, when he first got into the ring he was like circling around the ring and he like saw me and like stared right at me and like tried to do like a shadow kick in the air, and I looked at my friend I was like yo, he was he like trying to like say that he was kicking me and my friend was like, Yeah, I'm pretty sure he just looked at you in the eyes and like, tried to intimidate you,
Lisa Hillary
You had previously offered him $50 million to fight you, is that money still on the table?
Jake Paul
No. New offer is $23, which can buy you 23 McChickens. So, Conor McGregor, look if you're watching this man, take it while you can because who knows, it might drop down to $10 after your next loss.
Lisa Hillary
But, given the result of the fight and the injury, do you think it's more or less likely that he would take that fight now?
Jake Paul
I think it's more likely. I think he might see or realize that his time is up in the fight World, and he's going to try to, you know, get his last payday and Conor McGregor versus Jake Paul is probably the biggest fight, and the biggest amount of money that, that he can make in this sport.
Lisa Hillary
Right now under your occupation, it reads, "YouTuber, actor, social media influencer, boxer and rapper." Are you still able to work on all of those things when really your focus right now I can tell is boxing or does something take a backseat?
Jake Paul
I think everything besides boxing takes a backseat. You know I still do content I still post on Instagram, I still do TikToks, but I haven't been able to get in the studio. I haven't been posting as regularly on YouTube, just because I'm so dedicated to boxing I truly found what I love, which, which is fighting. And that's what I plan on doing for the next couple of years.
Lisa Hillary
How important is it to you to be respected in the boxing community, where do you care?
Jake Paul
I don't necessarily care. However, all I want to do is add to the sport, because I love the sport, I think it's great. And I want to bring more eyeballs and attention so that everyone can grow. Everyone can win. And I think the boxing community is starting to see that, and I've been supported by some legends like Mike Tyson who's, you know, been there through my whole journey supporting me, giving me tips and advice. So there are many people who are also like see the positive.
Lisa Hillary
Things that I'm doing for the sport boxing is a family affair and I know it's been asked before and I'll ask it again. Would you ever consider fighting your brother, Logan?
Jake Paul
We, we've considered it we've talked about it. Parents don't want us to do it. My dad is like no no no, absolutely not, but I think we just might have to settle that. Like I don't know if we can retire without making that that happen I think we both want to know what the result of that fight would be on the two of you close. Yeah, very close. We're literally neighbors we spent all of our time together. So, it would definitely be a big, like switch up, we would have the train in different places but who knows what will happen, right?
Lisa Hillary
Any plans to fight a ranked boxer?
Jake Paul
For sure, yeah, Jake Paul versus Canelo Álvarez will happen in the next three years. He's going in there with guys who are smaller, shorter and not as not as good as me. You know, he, he's finding guys like yield drum of who's the Turkish warrior who only goes in there for three rounds and barely throws any punches. So in the next three years, I plan on becoming a world champion, and I plan on beating Canelo Álvarez.
Lisa Hillary
One fight at a time though. August the 29th in Cleveland: Jake Paul versus Tyron Woodley. How many family and friends have requested tickets for August?
Jake Paul
150 people already and it's all your expense, I bet. Yeah, it's only been like 24 hours so I don't, I don't know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna have to buy a bunch of tickets and give them out, so we'll see. Listen, thanks so much for doing this really appreciate the time. Thank you.