Midnight Mania! Freddie Roach Predicts Askren Vs. Paul

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

There has been a whole lot of weird in the lead up to Ben Askren vs. Jake Paul, which is fortunately almost here and done with. The two will battle this Saturday night (April 17, 2021) from Mercedes-Benz Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, and the result may have a major impact on just how many future “celebrity” boxing matches dominate the airwaves.

One of the more unusual events in this lead up has been Askren’s pairing with famed boxing coach Freddie Roach. Speaking with MMAFighting, Roach explained how it all came together and offered his analysis on Askren and the match up.

“First let me share with you how this came about. I received a call from my friend Dana White,” Freddie Roach said. “He asked if I would work with Ben to prepare for his fight against Jake Paul. I had hoped it would be a full camp, but Ben was only able to spend one week with me at Wild Card, in mid-March.

“Now to answer your question, it was great working with Ben. He is a true professional and a class act. He came to Wild Card in great shape and sparred the first day and did 12 rounds of mitts with me, straight through, on the second day in addition to the usual roadwork and boxing drills. He is quick study and has a great work ethic. He puts his punches together very well and with a lot of power.”

On the whole, Roach was very complimentary towards Askren, advising him to “Do what you know” and close the distance in order to earn the victory. Regarding Paul, Roach was decidedly less impressed, though he did note that Paul appears to be taking boxing seriously and coming in shape.

“I refer to Jake Paul as the ‘YouTube boob,’” Roach continued. “I’ve seen video of him fighting and his press conference with Ben. It’s really hard for me to watch him too long. As far as his boxing skills, I think he’s a product of good matchmaking. To me, he acts like a celebrity trying to be a boxer. I told Ben that beating Jake Paul would be more than a victory, it would be a public service.”

Finally, Roach offered his prediction for the fight, “I know one thing, when Ben knocks Jake Paul on his ass on Saturday night, YouTube will have itself a new most-viewed video highlight.”

Insomnia

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Midnight Music: By and large, the songs I pick each night are indeed tracks that popped up while writing or at least at some point during the day. However, sometimes I’m busy or listening to the same album/band as the day before. In that case, I’ll commonly pull from my Discovered Weekly playlist, a hodgepodge of tracks that I thought were cool that — at one point or another — Spotify recommended me.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.