Inflicting the 7th defeat of his immense career on Mike Tyson does not guarantee winning the support of the boxing world. Jake Paul is learning this the hard way since his ultra-media success on Friday evening at AT&T Stadium in Arlington (Texas) against the world heavyweight champion in 1989. The reasons? This aspiring US professional boxer (27 years old, 10 victories in 11 fights) faced “Iron Mike” at the age of 58, and his personality is particularly divisive across the Atlantic.
Jake Paul is thus above all perceived as a controversial YouTuber, having achieved fame thanks to videos on social networks before becoming a skillful businessman. Born in 1997 in Ohio, he began his adventure as an influencer as a teenager by posting schoolboy videos on the Vine and YouTube networks from 2013 with his brother Logan. His audience growing, he was recruited by Disney Channel for the series Bizaardvark where he plays a tailor-made character, before being quickly fired.
A real fake fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Now a young adult living in Los Angeles, he gives free rein to his crazy imagination by continuing to shoot videos with his friends (lots of burning objects, jumping into a swimming pool, two-wheeled feats), and hosts a party almost permanent that drives the residents of his neighborhood crazy. A period during which he explains having widely abused illicit substances.
The tall blonde with multiple tattoos started boxing in 2018, organizing two fights for him and his brother against two rival British YouTubers. Paul then tries to dust off the noble art, knocking it out. in 2020 the former NBA player Nate Robinson, then ex-MMA specialists, but he lost on points in 2023 against Tommy Fury, reality TV star and half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
In 2021, he launched a fight that smacked of staging with Floyd Mayweather Jr., before the latter's exhibition fight against his brother Logan. Jake Paul, whose improving style in the ring does not convince the purists, has just achieved THE big blow of his boxing life by organizing a fight with Mike Tyson.
“People will never give me credit”
“When I beat Mike Tyson, it won’t change anything, people will never give me credit,” he explained (rightly) in a documentary. Whistled during his success in Arlington, since the start of his career he has played on his “bad boy” image, which is a hit on social networks. “I like criticism, it is necessary, I thrive on it,” confides the person concerned. But it's weird because more and more people like me, it's confusing. It's good, because I believe I'm a good person. »
In 2020, Jake Paul still sparked controversy for hosting a huge party in his villa in Calabasas (California) in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. This same villa was raided a few months later by the FBI, who seized firearms, after the YouTuber appeared on a video in a vandalized shopping center in Arizona during anti-racist protests.
Accused of illegal trespass and prohibited assembly, Jake Paul apologizes but denies having committed any wrongdoing. In 2023, he and other influencers were prosecuted by the American market watchdog for advertising cryptocurrencies without revealing that they were paid to do so.
He collaborates with rapper Gucci Mane
The YouTuber-boxer agrees to pay $101,887 in reimbursement and a fine, without admitting or denying his guilt. After trying his hand at singing, managing to organize prestigious collaborations such as with the rapper Gucci Mane, Jake Paul went into business with Nakisa Bidarian, with whom he created a fight promotion company (MVP), which notably counts in its ranks the Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano, one of the best boxers in the world.
He also ventured into venture capital (investment and stakes in young companies), he created a sports betting site, and has just launched a brand of body care products, all while surfing his 20s, 8 million YouTube subscribers and 27 million followers on Instagram.
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“I don’t like that stupid kid.”
In a relationship with Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, multiple world champion and Olympic vice-champion in 2022, Jake Paul is based in Puerto Rico in a villa between his luxury cars and his koi carp. Before the recent US presidential election, he called in a video to vote for Donald Trump to “literally save America”. Another divisive position, for the one who has unleashed a flood of reactions since his fight which delighted Netflix on Friday (120 million viewers!).
Our file on Mike Tyson
Cameroonian MMA fighter Francis Ngannou, who offered himself two superfights boxing against Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, said on the social network Similarly, former world heavyweight champion Tony Bellew slipped on his X account: “I don't like that stupid kid.” Before ending on a more positive note: “He stopped hitting Mike and he showed him some respect and dignity by letting him survive. He didn’t try for a knockout.” Coming from one of his main detractors in the ruthless world of boxing, it sounds like the ultimate compliment to our YouTuber-boxer.
