Current boxing coach for YouTube star Jake Paul, Danny Smith, admits the sport truly saved his pupil’s life.
Smith spoke to Vegas Insider recently, offering his thoughts on the young Jake Paul and the impact boxing has had on his life. He divulged that Paul admitted to him that boxing really saved his life, as the party lifestyle he was living as an entertainer was consuming him before.
“He told me that boxing really and truly saved his life from the life that he was living prior to boxing,” Smith said.
“The entertainment lifestyle of having fun and partying, stuff like that, could be self-destructive to a guy like Jake. Jake’s going to make boxing a career for himself instead because it pays very, very well.
“And it’s something that gives him the freedom to release whatever frustration and anger he has from his past that maybe he doesn’t discuss. Boxing is his outlet, and it has served him really, really well with that.”
Paul has really invested fully in his own boxing career, competing as a professional rather than taking exhibition bouts. Of course, his first few victories came over a fellow YouTube star and an ex-NBA player.
However, his competition has vamped up recently, as he owns victories over former mixed martial arts (MMA) champions in Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley.
Paul knocked out both Askren and Woodley in their respective bouts, finishing Woodley in their rematch from an initial contest they had, which Paul won via decision. Of course, Smith notes that Paul has been underestimated his entire career thus far, and it will likely continue.
“The media and a lot of fighters don’t know how well he’s progressing, and they really don’t know how serious he is,” Smith said.
“And they’re going to be underestimating him when they get in there until they feel his presence, his strength, his power, his speed.
“We’ve noticed that with a lot of sparring partners because they get in there and they’re like ‘Wow, it’s a life-or-death situation in there with him and he’s better than we thought the world is going to see that’.
“The most important thing that I’m working on is his defense, his understanding of the selection of punches that you can throw and that same selection of punches that can come back.”
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