Ben Askren is taking his fight with Jake Paul seriously — but he’s also having fun at the same time.
Askren makes his professional boxing debut when he takes on YouTuber Jake Paul in an eight-round contest taking place April 17 at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
Despite being the longtime athlete as well as a former multi-time MMA champion, Askren is the betting underdoing going into the fight with Paul who is 2-0 as a professional boxer.
Part of that is because Askren was never known for his striking. That said, “Funky” remains very confident in his chances thanks to his toughness and experience as he has gone on record predicting a late TKO for himself.
And he’s not only been training with legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach in recent weeks — he’s also doing some Rocky style training for the fight in order to ensure he’s in the best shape ever.
You can watch the hilarious training montage below:
“When I got the call to fight Logan Paul’s little brother I had to go into Rocky Style training!”
Of course, this is all fun and games. But it could backfire as well given that many — including MMA fighters — are predicting a win for Paul.
We’ll just have to wait and see for now.