The Jake Paul Experiment Hobbles On
By: Joshua Jaramillo
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As much as I enjoy engaging in the bit of the ‘Jake Paul Mafia’ to pretend that these circuses have any entertainment value, I will be perfectly honest for the purposes of this article.
Jake Paul’s farcical boxing career is a circus. I mean this fully, one-hundred percent derogatorily. There is zero true merit to these freakshow fights outside of their hypothetical entertainment value, and well, that’s how it has always been with these types of spectacles. One may recall Ali-Inoki, an even larger joke of an event that did nothing but pave the way for the farces we currently bemoan while simultaneously tuning in.
Is Jake Paul making a mockery of boxing? No. The sport does that to itself on a regular basis, and I’d reckon a carefully matched, attention-grabbing “prospect” is something that is familiar, and therefore uncomfortable to confront.
To boot, Jake Paul is additionally not the worst person ever to exist in this space. Boxing is a sport full of repugnant figures, and Jake likely doesn’t crack the top 50.
Do I dislike him any less with those facts in mind?
Also no. At the very least, these events should be entertaining. And they’re no longer that. With the benefit of hindsight, the only entertaining aspect of Jake Paul’s boxing stint was purely in the hypothetical, waiting for the day where he’d take a real challenge and inevitably get stopped.
Well, the day finally arrived. Jake Paul got stopped in the 6th round by former 2-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, and it was dismal.
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Joshua, as one could have predicted, looked shopworn and sluggish, a perfect “top fighter” for Paul to at the very least look minimally acceptable with before the inevitable.
Paul looked how one should have expected him to look both at this weight and his skillset. Minimally competent, fat, and out of ideas by the third round.
Was it fun or satisfying? Not really.
Jake Paul’s comeuppance was just part of the show.
As British fight fans often say when their guy comes up short, he gave it a go.
And giving it a go doesn’t mean he’ll go away.
We continue to be made the sucker and end up footing the bill for these shows that, despite dwindling in scale every time, always seem to attract more attention than ever.
There will always be a downtrodden star who sees a quick buck out of Jake Paul, and the odds are, one of those stars will be too washed to take advantage of Paul the way Anthony Joshua just did.
Paul will continue to fight formerly good beloved figures, and then feign a comeuppance in a step up where he’s been carefully matched enough to avoid career-ending damage. This does not mean that his fights are rigged in any way, shape or form, but it does mean that his matchmakers are intelligent far beyond the rubes who very publicly berate this type of event while tuning in every time.
The Jake Paul circus will go as far and as long as Jake Paul wills it. Frankly, I just hope the fights themselves start being fun.
