While no deal has been signed, Logan Paul is reportedly interested in a fight against Anderson Silva. Silva’s boxing coach has thoughts on how that’d go.
After a terrible run over the past seven years in the UFC, fighting legend Anderson Silva landed the feel good win of 2021 by beating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in a boxing match back in June. No one gave the 46 year old MMA fighter much of a chance against Chavez Jr., who may not have lived up to expectations but was still a legit boxing champion in his prime. But Silva outhustled Chavez Jr. in the ring to win a split decision.
That win has put him back in the conversation when it comes to celebrity boxing bouts. And there are few bigger celebrity opponents than Logan Paul, so it was good news for Silva’s bank account when word came out that Paul was considering “The Spider” as an opponent. And why not? He just got boxed up by Floyd Mayweather but walked away largely unhurt. Why not now face an MMA GOAT contender like Silva?
Well, if it happens it may not go as easy for Logan as it did against the much smaller Mayweather. Floyd fought much of his career below 150 pounds. Anderson Silva was a big 185 pounder. And according to Silva’s boxing coach Luiz Dorea, they’d be looking to crush Paul in the ring.
“Logan proved to be a very brave and talented kid doing an exhibition fight against the legend [Floyd] Mayweather,” Dorea told Sherdog in a recent interview. “But, of course, if it were in official rules, the result would be different. Let’s see if he will keep hiding under exhibition rules or if he will test himself in the real world [under professional rules]. In that case, I have no doubt Anderson will knock him out.”
Dorea also gave his thoughts on his former student Vitor Belfort, who is boxing Oscar De La Hoya on September 11th.
“Vitor is a very explosive fighter, four years younger, much stronger and never abandoned the athlete routine,” Dorea said. “De La Hoya is one of the GOATs of the sport, much more experienced in boxing matches but we don’t know how he took care of his physical condition during the long time off.”
“The experience is, for sure, on De La Hoya’s side, but I wouldn’t underestimate Belfort, who is very dangerous in the first two rounds. I believe Oscar will move a lot and use his experience to get the win via points.”
There’s a whole lot of MMA fighters getting into boxing these days, but hey … at least they’re going to be making a solid paycheck for their efforts. And in Silva’s case, would he be the one to finally punish one of the Paul brothers for flying too high to the sun?