Are Paul and Mayweather getting into the imitation beef business?
Jake Paul has been pretty quiet since seeing his perfect pro boxing record get cracked by Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia. Before the bout it was announced that Paul, win or lose, would be facing former UFC fan favourite Nate Diaz.
However, without an undefeated record, or an aura of decent-ability around him, it might be harder to fill seats to see Paul’s attempts to box again. So what’s a Problem Child to do?
Well, maybe set up a fight with a bigger name than Diaz and use the tried and tested ‘bad blood’ angle to do it.
Cut to a Miami Heat game this week where, wouldn’t you know it, Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather Jr. just happened to be in attendance. Mayweather has of course partnered with Paul Brother Inc. in the past, putting on a show-fight with Logan Paul for a boatload of cash.
TMZ Sports, who have an uncanny knack of getting footage from the scene of incidents like this, almost as if they knew it would happen, shared a clip of Paul being confronted by a massive Mayweather entourage outside of Miami-Dade Arena.
The clip shows Mayweather’s loudest flunkies berating Paul before the influencer turns tail and runs. Why get into a fight for free when you want people to pay $50 a pop to see it?
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) March 9, 2023
Paul then created some content on his Instagram page about what went down. He used his time there to hype up the danger he appeared to be in.
“So I’m leaving the Miami Heat game and Floyd Mayweather and 50 dudes pull up out of nowhere,” he said. “Out of some side alley waiting for me outside of the stadium. They’re like ‘what’s up, what’s all that talk now!’ I’m like first of all, what did I say to you Floyd? I just took your hat and you’re still mad about it? Come on, bro. Then 50 dudes literally start surrounding me trying to jump me. I’m out that bitch.”
The last time we saw a confrontation between Paul the Younger and Mayweather was in the build up to the 50-0 pro’s fight with Logan in 2021. During one of the press events, Paul swiped a baseball hat off of Mayweather’s head.
That seemed to provoke genuine ire out of Mayweather, who raged and claimed he wanted to kill Paul. Seems Mayweather might not be great when you go off-book.
Love him or hate him you have to admit that Paul has done a good job disrupting combat sports since KOing Nate Robinson in 2020. With smart match-making and over-the-top promotion the viral star ushered in a new era of celebrity fights. Those spectacles, though not at all important from a sporting sense, have brought in a lot of money for those involved and have certainly brought in an ocean of web traffic for schmoes like us.
However, with Paul agreeing to fight someone who could beat him (and perhaps others down the line who could do the same), we may soon see the back of him. Though, don’t be too smug about it. If nothing else, Paul’s millions of wannabe influencers and ‘cross-over fighters’ how to get the the top and how to throw it all away. So the next ‘Problem Child’ might stay a problem for much longer.
About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)