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LAS VEGAS – When it comes to combat sports, [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] thinks there’s enough space for everyone to sit at the table.
Paul, the YouTube star who has moved into professional boxing, has quickly become a notable subject of discussion throughout the boxing and prize fighting landscape. Though he draws in new eyes from an audience that may not normally watch boxing, he tends to sour the traditionalists and hardcores.
Ahead of his boxing match against former Bellator champion and UFC fighter Ben Askren at Triller Fight Club on April 17 in Atlanta, Paul questioned the legitimacy of the hostility directed at him.
“Haters will be haters,” Paul told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at a press conference on Friday. “When there’s a new young buck in the game coming up and ruffling feathers, they’re going to be upset. But again, I’m just trying to bring more eyeballs to the sport. I’m having fun doing it and I’m just doing me. There’s room for everyone to eat.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFFxaVtCD-Y
If anything, Paul thinks he’s an added draw to combat sports – not a deterrent. So much so that Paul claims after his second-round knockout of former NBA star Nate Robinson in November that combat sports stars flocked to him for a fight, not the other way around.
“After my Nate Robinson fight, there were probably about 70 people calling me out, wanting to fight me,” Paul said. “There was probably six people that made sense to fight: (Michael) Bisping, (Conor) McGregor, (Nate) Diaz, (Dillon) Danis, (Ben) Askren, (and) some YouTubers that are popular, but I wanted to fight a real MMA fighter.
“When it came to signing the contract, a lot of them didn’t want to do it. By the way, this is me coming to them with the biggest payday of their lives. This is Ben’s biggest payday of his life. He’s publicly said that. So, when it came down to signing the contract, he was actually down.”
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Paul, 24, claims he isn’t indulging in boxing only for a moment. He wants to climb up the ladder until he’s to the top and has sacrificed to make boxing his life. He moved from California to Florida with the intention of training at a higher level.
“I’m definitely a ‘boxing-lifer,'” Paul said. “I’m addicted to this sport. I will become the biggest prize-fighter in boxing. (It’s) as simple as that.”
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