I write a lot about how I don't care for Jake Paul and feel as though his presence in the boxing world has contributed very largely to the downfall of "real" boxing and has turned the sport into a spectacle of non-boxers making a ton of money by ruining the "sweet science." I do respect Jake for attempting to shine a light on how MMA fighters are underpaid and that the promoters need to be more responsibly looking after their fighters. Unfortunately not very much ground has been made as far as that is concerned so we see more and more MMA fighters wanting to get involved in this exhibition boxing masquerading as "real" boxing industry that Jake Paul kind of created.
His latest opponent is a bit of a last-minute addition because of Mike Tyson backing out due to and injury or illness or because he is nearly 60 years old.... one of those things. Mike Perry, an ex-UFC fighter turned Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship fighter is that replacement.
There are a couple of reasons why this fight could be good and a lot of reasons why it could end up being terrible as well.
I think the bad outweighs the good and the fact that they are charging a crazy $65 for the pay-per-view is enough of a reason for me to not watch it and instead just watch the highlights afterwards.
For one thing, Mike Perry is about as tough as they come. To quote the movie Snatch he is a bare knuckle fighter "which makes him harder than a coffin nail." BKFC is so brutal that I can't believe it is allowed. I suppose it is only because no one has died yet. Mike is a fearless and absolutely terrifying beast of a man who is in his physical prime. This is a far cry from Jake Paul facing a washed up Tyron Woodley, a washed up Anderson Silva, or a washed-up-and-don't-even-know-what-he-is-doing-there Ben Askren. Don't even get me started on Mike Tyson.
A major reason why a lot of people are going to be tuning in is because we have all wanted Jake Paul to get his clock cleaned in the ring for a while now and Mike could be the one to make that happen. His comment of I will "dig through your eyeball and find your memories” when talking to Jake Paul seems legit. I really don't feel like this guy is putting on a show when he displays such rage and I think a lot of people would really enjoy seeing Paul get his ass handed to him.
We need to be careful to not fall for any hype though, because a lot of this could be staged as it tends to be with Jake and seeing as how Jake pulled a light-hearted phone prank on Perry just a few days ago kind of suggests that much of the intimidation tactics could be fabricated.
I guess it doesn't really matter if it is real or fake, it all boils down to how the two do once they get in the ring.
now let's get to the real reasons why this could just be a joke of a match:
Mike Perry has been reasonable successful in MMA as well as BKFC, but he only has one professional boxing match under his belt, and he lost quite badly to a rather unknown opponent.
Do you know who Kenneth McNeil is? yeah me neither. Kenny KO'd Perry in short order in the only boxing match that Perry has ever had prior to Jake Paul and well, I think this is part of the reason why Jake Paul selected him as a replacement for Iron Mike. The fact that his name is "Mike" might have played some part in it as well.
Then we always have to consider the very real possibility that Jake Paul might have a sneaky contract the likes of which have been suspected of the man since the start. Jake controls the promotion so if you want to fight him and make a bunch of money, you have to be prepared for whatever that contract might have in it. There have been unsubstantiated rumors that contracts with Jake Paul include that if you knock Jake out, your pay is drastically reduced. Now there is no proof that this is something that has actually happened but let's just imagine that you are a fighter and you are trying to win but again, just like in Snatch... do not, knock him out!
The next reason why the fight could end up being a dud is an important one. Mike Perry is a fearless bastard, I'll give him that... but Jake isn't in his weight class. Mike fought in UFC at 170 lbs, and his fights in BKFC were at 185. In his fight with Paul it is required for him to get up to nearly 200 lbs, which is really difficult to do without putting on some of that really annoying fat. A fighter can cut weight, but putting good weight on isn't something you can just do in 5 weeks time. Hell, it took Jon Jones more than a year to GAIN weight to get up to heavyweight. Many pro-boxing insiders have said that at this weight Mike Perry doesn't stand a chance and will be sluggish and will gas out early because he isn't meant to be that heavy.
When you weigh all the factors here this looks like a shoe-in victory for Jake Paul and perhaps that was the idea from the start. I believe that if Jake were to fight an actual cruiserweight professional boxer, just someone in the top 40, that he would get absolutely destroyed and this is probably the reason why we never hear about his entertaining the idea of actually doing that. A loss for Paul means that this gravy train could be over, and I have a hard time believing that Jake is actually interested in fighting qualified opponents.
Will you watch? If so I hope you find a pirate stream and aren't stupid enough to actually pay $65 for the pleasure.