YouTube celebrity Jake Paul is set to fight on the undercard of Mike Tyson’s comeback fight this coming weekend, but he’s also been floating the idea of potentially fighting boxing an MMA fighter in the future too.
“I want to take UFC fighters like Ben Askren, like (Jorge) Masvidal, whoever it is and bring them over to boxing,” Paul told The Mayweather Channel. “I want to fight Conor McGregor eventually. Whoever wants to get in the boxing ring with me, I want to be able to do it and beat them.”
It’s somewhat curious to call out Askren given that he’s already retired, but there’s likely to be some method to the madness in that ‘Funky’s’ success in MMA, which includes lengthy spells as champion at both Bellator and ONE FC, came about due to his Olympic level wrestling skills rather than his fairly rudimentary striking ability.
That being said, when asked about whether he was interesting in boxing Paul – who is 1-0 in boxing so far – Askren appeared willing to entertain the idea.
“Jake Paul wants to box me,” Askren told MMA Fighting. “I don’t know, I’m not a boxer but I could beat up a bum YouTube celebrity.”
“It would be something to do because you could say I did it. I don’t gotta go box f*ckin Roy Jones and get my ass whooped or nothing. But I could box some YouTube bum and get paid for it? What a tremendous livelihood.”
Askren, who recently underwent hip surgery and is now pain-free for the first time in years, also went on to reveal that the YouTuber’s brother Logan Paul has previously floated the idea of testing his skills against him on the wrestling mat.
“Logan Paul came at me last year—I think that’s his brother or some sh*t. I don’t know what their deal is, but I think he wanted to wrestle somebody and I said, ‘We don’t have to do a full match, but I’ll pin you in under a minute. No problem, bubba.’ He obviously did not accept the challenge because he pretty much knows how that would go down.”
Challenging Askren to a boxing match is one thing, but while Paul does have a college wrestling background, he’s likely biting off way more than he can chew if he decides to go up against a gold-medal winning Olympian and two-time NCAA champion on the mat.
