Last Saturday night, Triller CEO Ryan Kavanaugh has offered YouTuber Jake Paul $30 million to face former MMA champion Vitor Belfort in a winner takes all match on Thanksgiving in November.
Kavanagh is looking to take advantage of the interest in Belfort following his first round knockout win over 58-year-old former boxing star Evander Holyfield last Saturday night at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Belfort demolished the feeble-looking Holyfield, knocking him down once with a left uppercut and then battering him with a follow-up storm of punches that resulted in the referee stopping the fight.
It was a good victory, but it wasn’t against a quality opponent, as Holyfield hadn’t fought in ten years, and he was very bit of 58. Holyfield left his prime behind roughly 22 years ago, in 1999. He’s looked like a shot fighter ever since his second fight with Lennox Lewis.
“Twenty-five million dollars, the winner takes all! Jake Paul, stop running from me, man,” Belfort said last Saturday.
“I’m going to teach you a lesson. All your little fans will become Vitor fans. I come to knock people out. You bring it? I bring it harder. He has earned respect, but he’s still a Disney World kid.”
It’s kind of pathetic that Belfort would reset to calling out Jake Paul rather than a real boxer. Even an old guy like David Haye would have been preferable for Belfort to call out rather than stooping to the level of calling out the YouTube celebrity Jake Paul.
Belfort didn’t look half bad against Holyfield, and he could potentially beat one of the light heavyweight or cruiserweight contenders.
It would have made Belfort look better if he’d called out light heavyweight champions Artur Beterbiev, Joe Smith Jr., or Dmitry Bivol.
Belfort could have called out champions Mairis Briedis, Lawrence Okolie, Ilunga Makabu, Arsen, or Goulamirian. It’s obvious why Belfort didn’t call those guys out.
They wouldn’t bring in the kind of money that Jake Paul would, and also, they would likely easily beat Belfort because not 58-years-old and shot to pieces.
Still, it made Belfort look ridiculous calling out Jake Paul rather than a real boxer last Saturday. Belfort is almost twice Jake’s age, and it looks silly for him to call out a guy with no background in the sport.
Paul, 24, has yet to respond to the offer to take on the 44-year-old Belfort, but it’s got to be tempting. Jake recently edged 40-year-old former UFC champion Tyron Woodley by an eight round split decision on August 29th in a kind of so-so performance.
Given how bad Paul looked against Woodley, he’s not going to accept the fight with Belfort.
“Thirty million dollars, winner takes all. If Jake says no, we know why,” said Kavanaugh.
After this tko i figure tyson be called out and maybe bring back ali from the dead and maybe a title shot for george but not the disney kids
Jake Paul’s loaded. He’s gonna take time off and when he feels like coming back he can fight the YouTube he was gonna fight that beat his brother and make a fortune or mcgregor or Diaz and make way more money rather than fight belfort 😂