For the second time in four months, Paul made the walk as a professional boxer against another professional with a superior record to himself. On paper, this is a bold move away from beating up retired mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, a gambit that puts him at risk of getting knocked cold by somebody with 700 Instagram followers.
In reality, who f—king cares?
Paul is not fighting talent above the club level. In the case of his opponent last night, Ryan Bourland, he was boxing an opponent who pretty much retired five years ago. Predictably, the active 27-year-old with the best training — and steroids? — money can buy ran through his opponent.
Bourland looked as one would expect of a retired boxer (watch highlights).
Consequently, there’s some truth to the Sean Strickland critique that Jake Paul is buying wins. I have no clue how much money Bourland was paid to face “The Problem Child,” but I would bet the shirt I’m wearing that it’s more than he made for any of his previous 19 professional contests. In fact, I would happily gamble that his purse last night was greater than the grand total of those bouts combined.
Why come out of retirement if not for a paycheck? Whether Bourland believed he could win or not is inconsequential, as the bottom line here is that Paul and his team paid a retired boxer to come get knocked out by a young puncher who outmatched him.
Paul’s response to such matchmaking criticism has been to point out the records and competition levels of other professional boxers, and there’s truth to that as well. Record-padding is a well-established tradition in boxing. The base idea is that young prospects need a lot of time in the ring, and that the more experience they build, the more likely they’ll be able to bring their skills from the gym into professional competition.
It’s also marketing, of course. 20-0 looks great on a poster, even if all 20 of those wins came opposite garbagemen and electricians.
Here’s the flaw with Paul’s argument: he’s not a real boxing prospect. Floyd Mayweather and Gennady Golovkin fought their tenth professional boxing matches opposite unremarkable opposition, but they were also Olympians. There was a purpose to bringing them up through the professional ranks slowly: they were being forged into champions!
What’s the reason for boosting Paul’s record? His eventual rematch with Tommy Fury or possible showdown against Jorge Masvidal will not sell any more pay-per-views (PPV) because of this win. Paul is no closer to fighting Canelo Alvarez because of this victory, and two minutes of beating up a retired boxer doesn’t improve his skills or ability to perform on a large stage.
Since Paul isn’t a real boxing prospect, there’s no need to build him like one. It’s more interesting and more appropriate to embrace the spectacle and create major events against “name” opponents than play make believe that Paul is going to hone his skills and challenge for a world title.
In summary, nothing is being built with these journeyman bouts. Like Power Slap, all that was created is a 12-second highlight clip to be chewed up, spit out, and forgotten like bubble gum by the general populace.
For complete Paul vs. Bourland results, click here.