Interview with Jake Paul to talk boxing, next fight, Orlando, MVP, Logan Paul, WWE, Cena, Ali
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Boxer and YouTuber Jake Paul founded Most Valuable Promotions, which helps boxers — especially female boxers — financially and professionally.
In January, Paul signed with PFL MMA where he co-founded and will compete in a new pay-per-view MMA division, known as Super Fight, adopting the official role of head of fighter advocacy.
Here is my video interview with Jake Paul, discussing boxing, Orlando event, WWE U.S. Champ Logan Paul, women’s boxing, John Cena, Muhammad Ali, MVP (not the WWE Superstar) and more.
Between 2020 and 2022, Paul won fights against retired basketball player Nate Robinson by second round KO, retired mixed martial artists Ben Askren (by 1st-round TKO), Tyron Woodley (twice - by split decision and 6th-round KO) and Anderson Silva (by unanimous decision). Tommy Fury handed him his first professional loss via split decision in February 2023. In August 2023, he defeated 38-year-old Nate Diaz by unanimous decision.
Next fight on Dec. 15 in Orlando
Jake “The Problem Child” Paul (7-1, 4 KOs) is gearing for his next battle, his toughest test to date, an eight-round cruiserweight bout which is Dec. 15 vs. pro boxer Andre August (10-1, 5 KOs) at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando.
Billed as MVP’s Most Valuable Prospects IV, the card also features Shadasia “The Sweet Terminator” Green vs. Franchón Crews-Dezurn for the WBC super middleweight championship.
Plus, Yoenis Tellez (6-0, 5 KOs) vs. Livan Navarro (15-1, 9 KOs) in a 10-round light middleweight fight for the WBA Continental Latin Americas title, and Lorenzo Medina (8-0, 7 KOs) vs. Joshua Temple (12-2, 10 KOs) in a 6-round heavyweight bout.
Tickets are available for as low as $50 on Ticketmaster.com.
For fans watching at home, Paul vs. August will be available on DAZN’s subscription package (not PPV).
How to watch Paul vs. August on DAZN
Visit DAZN.com and follow the steps to sign up now
Once signed up, download the DAZN app to watch on any device
Go to the app store on your chosen device, search ‘DAZN’ and download the DAZN app
DAZN is available on your phone, tablet, smart TV, streaming devices such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and gaming consoles
Connect multiple devices to your account to watch at home or on the go
About MVP (Most Valuable Promotions)
MVP (Most Valuable Promotions) was founded by Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian in 2021. With the mission to provide more creative control to fighters, MVP works to identify, grow and maximize return for its own events and talent partners.
One year into its inception, MVP was nominated as one of the prestigious Sports Breakthroughs of the Year in 2022 by Sports Business Journal. MVP has produced Jake Paul’s past four global pay-per-view events, including the recent Paul vs. Fury match, which surpassed 800,000 pay-per-view buys worldwide.
The promotion company also signed one of the most decorated Hispanic athletes of all time, Amanda Serrano in its first year. Serrano and MVP made history in April of 2022 when Serrano went head-to-head with Katie Taylor, marking the first female fight to headline at Madison Square Garden, recently earning a nomination for Event of The Year by Sports Business Journal.
Co-founder Nakisa Bidarian was an executive producer of the historic Triller Presents Mike Tyson vs. Roy Jones Jr., the 8th most bought pay-per-view event in history.
MVP’s goal is to promote women boxers and discover young, exciting, and diverse prospects (women and men) in the sport of boxing. With the mission to provide more creative control to fighters, MVP works to identify, grow, and maximize return for its own events and talent partners.
MVP has worked to bring pay equality and change to the sport of women’s boxing, giving female fighters the biggest paydays of their careers and championing female fighters’ choice to fight 12, three-minute rounds for championship fights, equal to the men’s championship standard.
MVP’s Amanda Serrano vs. Danila Ramos was the first unified women’s championship fight to be fought at 12, three-minute rounds.
MVP’s talent roster includes: Jake Paul (7-1, 4 KOs), seven-division world champion Amanda Serrano (46-2-1, 30 KOs), top prospect H2O Sylve (10-0, 9 KOs), Shadasia “The Sweet Terminator” Green (13-0, 11 KOs), and 17-year-old boxer, actor, and model Javon “Wanna” Walton (pro debut in 2024).
Jake’s WWE U.S. champion brother
Jake’s brother, Logan Paul, 28, is the WWE U.S. champion, defeating the legendary Rey Mysterio for the title in Novemeber at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia.
A year earlier at Crown Jewel, Logan wrestled Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal championship. During the match Logan was attacked by Roman’s cousins Jimmy and Jey Uso while the referee was knocked out. Jake made his way down the ramp to save his brother Logan by fending of The Usos and their brother, Solo Sikoa. Roman won the match, but Logan received rave reviews for his efforts, especially with the very limited amount of experience in professional wrestling/sports entertainment.
Prior, Logan had his first match in WWE, teaming with The Miz, also from Cleveland, at WrestleMania 38 in April 2022 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They defeated Rey Mysterio and his son Dominick. Logan did very well.
Logan competed in the 2023 Royal Rumble in January. During the battle, Paul had an encounter with Ricochet that led to both men leaping off the top rope from both sides of the ring, and colliding with each other mid-air. The spot garnered a massive crowd and social media reaction, with many deeming it one of the best moments of the match. Logan eliminated Seth Rollins. That set the stage for Logan vs. Rollins at WrestleMania 39 in April at SoFi Stadium in Englewood, California. Rollins won, but Logan again received kudos for his efforts.
WWE signed him to a multi-year deal.
A natural with only a handful of matches, he is one of the fastest-rising stars in pro wrestling/sports entertainment history.
Originally from Cleveland, Jake Paul, 26, initially rose to fame on Vine, before playing the role of Dirk Mann on the Disney Channel series “Bizaardvark” for two seasons.
After gaining acclaim on Vine and YouTube, Paul was hired onto the set of “Bizaardvark,” playing a character who accepted dare requests that he would then perform. Very popular. At age 20, he began his own ventures, including music, including the single “Randy Savage.”
In 2018, Paul made his boxing debut in a white-collar match against English YouTuber Deji Olatunji. Paul vs Olatunji was the co-feature bout to Paul’s older brother’s fight, Logan Paul, against Olatunji’s older brother, KSI. The bout occurred in August at Manchester Arena in Manchester, England. Paul defeated Olatunji via technical knockout in the 5th round.
In 2020, Paul made his professional debut against English YouTuber AnEsonGib. The bout was in January at the Meridian at Island Gardens in Miami and was the co-feature bout to the WBO world middleweight title bout between professional boxers Demetrius Andrade and Luke Keeler.
Paul defeated AnEsonGib via technical knockout in the 1st round and proceeded to call out KSI. On November 28, Paul returned to the ring against basketball player Nate Robinson and was the co-feature bout to the exhibition match between Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Paul defeated Robinson via knockout in the 2nd round.
About Paul and PFL MMA
Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced in January a historic two-part exclusive partnership with Jake Paul, which can accelerate PFL’s mission to innovate and grow the global sport of MMA.
First, Jake Paul begins his MMA journey with PFL by signing as the first fighter in the new Pay-Per-View division he co-created with PFL called “PFL PPV Super Fights.”
Second, Jake Paul, along with his business partner Nakisa Bidarian, will utilize their expertise and platforms to help recruit, market, and promote the new PFL PPV Super Fight Division for the benefit of all top fighters.
The new PFL PPV Super Fight Division is open for business effective immediately. The league is in the process of signing top PPV fighters, who want to become true economic partners. Fighters in the PFL PPV Super Fight Division will earn 50-percent of the revenue from PPV events, which is groundbreaking pay in MMA.
As the first fighter under contract for PFL PPV Super Fights, Paul is partnering with PFL due to its “fighter-first” culture to co-create this new 50-50 revenue partnership model for all PPV fights.
As a long-time advocate for fighter-pay, Paul has also been appointed Head of Fighter Advocacy and will continue to work toward a business model that benefits all top fighters.
PFL PPV Super Fights are stand-alone events separate from the PFL League Season. PFL will stage two PPV Super Fights starting in 2023, scaling to more PPV events in following years.
PFL is entering its next phase of expansion by launching the PFL PPV Super Fight Division and is welcoming Paul and Bidarian as minority equity owners in its parent company. Paul and Bidarian will deploy their expertise, creativity, network, and platform to help promote fights, produce content, and recruit talent to help build PFL and the grow the awareness of its great fighters.
PFL is the #1 fastest growing company in MMA and the #2 MMA company on worldwide basis. PFL is the only MMA company with the sports-season format, where individual fighters compete in sports-season “win and advance” meritocracy like all other major sports.
The PFL fighter roster is global and world-class, with fighters from over 20 countries and 25% independently ranked in the top 25. PFL leads in technology and innovation, with its proprietary PFL SmartCage powering real-time betting and next-gen viewing experience. PFL airs live prime-time in America on ESPN and ESPN+ and (via 25 distribution partners) is broadcast and streamed to 140 countries worldwide.
My Pro Wrestling and MMA Talk on the Web and Social Media
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