Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing says he’d like to see YouTuber Jake Paul face former UFC star Conor McGregor in a boxing match and then walk away from the sport.
Hearn believes that the “novelty” of the social media influencer Jake competing in boxing events is starting to wear off after his poor performance in scraping by former UFC champion Tyron Woodley by a seven round split decision last month on August 29th.
McGregor has expressed interest in fighting Jake, and it would be an easy one for the two to set up. With the combination of McGregor’s huge fan base from the MMA and Jake’s 20 million followers on YouTube, they could make a lot of money in a boxing event.
You can’t deny that a fight between Jake and Mcgregor should do big numbers on pay-per-view.
At this point, it makes much more sense for Jake to take a fight with McGregor than it does for him to face Woodley in a rematch.
Jake (4-0, 3 KOs) looked exhausted from the fourth round in defeating the 40-year-old Woodley by the scores:
- 78-74 – Paul
- 77-75 – Paul
- 77-75 – Woodley
The fight took place at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, televised on Showtime PPV.
A day after the fight, Jake told Woodley on social media that if he wants a rematch, he must get a 3×2 tattoo, saying, “I love Jake Paul.”
Jake should fight McGregor
“I watched some of it. Look, the fight is what it’s going to be,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV when asked if he’d watched Jake Paul’s fight against Tyron Woodley.
“Look, you’ve got to take your hat off. What Jake Paul and Logan Paul did was quite amazing, you know? And the show was packed.
“Boxing is a tough, tough sport to crack in America. We found that. It’s not like it is in the UK, and I think they’re [Logan and Jake] doing a good job.
“But I think it’s about to fizzle out, I really do. I think any novelty act only stays novel for a certain period of time, and it’s always about the product.
“The product isn’t actually great. The idea is great, the hype is great, but what you’re actually watching just isn’t very good. I think he should fight Conor McGregor.
“I think he’s [Jake Paul] going to get beat sooner or later. So why not just go and fight Conor McGregor and make loads of money. It’s actually quite a good fight.
“I don’t know how they’re going to make the weight up. Could Jake get to 170? I don’t know.
“But just make the fight. Let them make a few quid and then walk off into the sunset,” said Hearn on his hopes that Jake Paul faces McGregor and then retires from boxing.
Given how shaky Jake looked against Woodley, he should listen to Hearn’s advice and fight McGregor next rather than doing a needless rematch.
Doing a second Jake vs. Woodley fight probably won’t result in huge numbers like the first time because their match lacked drama, and there’s no demand to see them do it again.
Hearn says Jake vs. Woodley was “Hard to watch”
“I definitely would for Conor McGregor vs. Jake Paul,” Hearn said when asked if he would never get involved in a fight between McGregor and Jake.
“I said I wouldn’t do a YouTube fight again, and I don’t think I even said that. I said, ‘I wasn’t looking to,’ but I would never rule it out.
“But I’m focused on what we’re doing with DAZN and the schedule we’re building. I don’t want to sound cheesy, but when I watched Jake Paul against Tyron Woodley, it was quite hard to watch.
“The show was great. I think Jake is a genius, by the way, and I like him. Logan is super smart.
“It’s just not that good to watch for me as a boxing fan. I don’t think it hurts anything. Let them do their thing, and it’s amazing what they’ve achieved,” said Hearn about Jake and Logan Paul.
There wasn’t much action in the Jake vs. Woodley fight aside from the missed knockdown in the fourth round. Woodley’s low work rate had a lot to do with the fight being unwatchable.