Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley II: Get used to having Paul around

By Martin Rogers
FOX Sports Columnist

Another week, another contrived boxing match between non-boxers that will take up too much airspace and do little for the credibility of the sport.

Or, depending on how you see it, another massive event that will reach an expansive audience, capture the imaginations of superstars and social media influencers alike and catapult boxing to greater contemporary relevance.

Wherever you stand on the topic of celebrity fights and the absolute proliferation of such contests over the past couple of years, there is little doubt that the concept’s primary trailblazer is the man headlining this weekend’s card.

Jake Paul — YouTuber, loudmouth, multimillionaire and opinion-divider supreme — will be in action Saturday night in Tampa, Florida, fighting Tyron Woodley in a rematch of the August scrap between the pair, which Paul won on points.

"Celebrities are coming out left and right," Paul told reporters. "People are even more excited to see me fight Tyron again, and there are unanswered questions."

There have been, though they’re not entirely the questions Paul wanted people to be talking about. After he beat Woodley via split decision, there were queries as to whether the whole thing was above board or a contrived result aimed at further boosting Paul’s juggernaut-like popularity and level of intrigue.

Mixed martial arts fighter Dillon Danis, who infamously got into a cageside fight with Khabib Nurmagomedov after Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in 2018, recently claimed that in the first bout, Woodley was contractually prohibited from knocking Paul out.

Paul immediately and heatedly disputed that accusation and has now offered a $500,000 bonus for Woodley to KO him in the rematch, seeking to dispel rumors of impropriety that would surely scuttle pay-per-view sales.

Or would they?

"Not necessarily," said Lance Pugmire of USA TODAY Sports+, who broke the news that Danis’ claims were, in fact, incorrect. "The thing to remember with Jake Paul is that it is a specific and unique audience we’re dealing with. His fans understand that it is a show and a story, but they want the story to play out to its maximum potential, which Paul understands is far more intensive than acting out one of his YouTube scripts."

The phenomenon of mass-interest fights between non-traditional boxers became a thing in 2018, when Logan Paul, Jake’s brother, fought British rapper KSI. Neither of them was particularly accomplished in the ring. Jake Paul, however, has taken things to a new, hybrid level — and profited from it spectacularly.

He isn't a world-class boxer — or anything close to it — but many far worse fighters have competed professionally. Paul trains with fanatical intensity and is a knowledgeable student of the sport.

"People just need to realize how serious I take this and how a lot of these other professional fighters don’t train as hard as me," Paul said. "They’re not as prepared as me.

"I’ve fought with a broken nose. I’ve fought sick. The list goes on. Last fight against Tyron, I had a hyperextended elbow. Didn’t say anything. Why? Because it doesn’t matter. I’m still going to go in there and find a way to win. That’s my motivation."

The earliest celebrity fights were really the equivalent of watching an organized street brawl. It is different now. Paul has some boxing chops, and there are times when he has looked really good in the ring, albeit against opposition that, to date, has numbered YouTuber AnEsonGib, former NBA slam dunk champion Nate Robinson, MMA fighter Ben Askren and Woodley.

We will never know his full capabilities until he steps in against recognized guys — not athletes from different sports. Paul purports to be on a three-year plan that will end with him getting a shot at pound-for-pound king Canelo Alvarez, which would be laughable, except for the reality that money doesn’t just talk in boxing. It positively screams its head off.

"I think there will probably come a time when Jake Paul steps in with someone who is just too good and classy, and it gives him a wake-up moment about whether he really wants to be doing this," Pugmire said.

"But with a personality like that, you can never count them out. He is so convinced he is on this track, and if he got anywhere near title contention, it would be a no-brainer of a fight to make, an absolute goldmine for everyone involved."

Meanwhile, Paul will continue to do what he’s doing: being noisy, fighting frequently, getting people’s attention by whatever means necessary. The boxing purists hate it, believing the celebrity fight craze to be the death of a sport that at its best can be as compelling as any but which has dropped off the mainstream radar outside of the elites.

In one sense, it hardly seems fair that limited boxers such as Paul and others can rake in huge checks while some divisional world champions fight for sums that are tiny by comparison. However, that’s showbiz, that’s boxing, and that's a reflection of modern life. In the broadest of terms, those capable of capturing the most eyeballs make the most money.

Others in the combat world are quick to embrace this phenomenon, reasoning that for a boxing match — any boxing match — to be seen by so many people can only be a good thing.

It is a wild time in the industry: confusing, confounding and possibly revolutionary. It is difficult for the traditionalists to reconcile, but the key thing here is that Paul’s target audience — young, admiring of bombast, accustomed to social media promotional shenanigans — gets it.

Which leads us to the most remarkable unanswered question of all regarding Paul and Woodley: Not whether the fight is real (and there’s no reason to suspect it isn’t), but if, to the hundreds of thousands expected to watch it, that even matters.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider Newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.