Despite knocking out every opponent in his path thus far, most people out there still aren’t convinced by Jake Paul’s boxing ability, given he’s only ever fought tomato cans, NBA players and retired MMA fighters.
I think one test we’d all be happy to see though is Jake Paul Vs Yoel Romero, who even at 45 years of age is still active in the MMA scene and one of the most terrifying human beings on the planet. Romero has been eyeing a move into boxing for a while now, and said the following in Spanish when asked by MMA Junkie who he’d like to box:
“That same kid, Jake Paul, yes, yes, him. He needs to get humbled, needs to be let known that a true athlete he can’t beat. It doesn’t matter how hard he trains. He can’t beat one.”
Music to our ears! You might think that Anderson Silva has it covered when he squares off against Jake Paul later next month, but if by some miracle Jake Paul KO’s the UFC legend then I can’t think of many other fighters in their mid-40s who I’d rather see him face than Yoel Romero. The guy is an absolute monster:
The build-up to a potential Paul/Romero showdown would also be top quality. Who could forget Romero’s legendary viral inspirational speech from a few years back:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcOVEJizjQI
Or the time he gave the most terrifying answer possible when asked what his biggest regret in life was:
Listen I would love nothing better than to see Anderson Silva spark out Jake Paul next month, but the prospect for a Paul/Romero fight excites me more because it just seems like Romero genuinely dislikes the guy and wants to knock him out, whereas Silva seems to just be in it for the payday.
In fact, according to an interview Romero gave to Ariel Helwani back in 2021, Jake has already once entertained the idea of a fight with Romero, but turned it down once Romero accepted. He said (through an interpreter):
“What happened was, initially Jake Paul wanted to do a fight with Yoel, but then when Yoel wanted to do it, the Paul team cancelled the fight.
Initially they wanted to do the fight with me. That was when I was just getting out of the UFC, he had not signed with Bellator yet, and they said eventually no they don’t want me… They decided to go with Ben Askren.”
Of course they did. Is Jake brave enough to take Romero on a couple years later? We’ll have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Floyd Mayweather has confirmed he’ll be fighting Conor McGregor again in 2023. Do we really need to see a repeat of that?
