A.J. Merch

Staff Writer

amerchant1@umassd.edu

Boxing is now a very interesting space. It has now been occupied by the likes of Jake Paul and Logan Paul in recent years. For the most part it is Jake Paul, who is Jake Paul you may ask? Jake Paul, during my middle school years into freshmen and sort of Sophomore year of high school was the era of Vine. Vine was basically TikTok but better in the sense of humor and usage. He was at the time a Vine star who grew in fame massively after the app was taken down. He would then go onto becoming a Disney star and then ultimately a huge youtuber. As time progressed he would slowly enter the boxing arena. 

But is this a good thing? If you ask me it depends, many combat sports have slowly seen this occurrence happen. Like in mma where UFC fighter Connor Mcgregor fought Floyd Mayweather and lost. So truthfully it was only a matter of time before an amateur would infiltrate the traditional system of boxing; acting as if they could go face to face with fighters like Mayweather.

It being good is in my opinion very unlikely because it defeats the purpose of which many boxers like Ali, Mike Tyson, and Canelo trained for years and decades to master their form and technique. Just for some youtuber to come into their space and act like he’s some legend. After fighting mediocre fighters who were not professional boxers or even warriors like the greats in boxing history or even the newer boxers of today. But Jake Paul does bring a huge amount of success and money does come in because of it. Jake Paul’s fans do bring in numbers and money only one could imagine. But to many the sport has been put down by this happening. Which is true in every way but money talks. And that’s all that truly matters for a business like boxing. 

This creates the world for “money fights”, where numerous celebrities will enter the boxing world sparring it out. Making boxing seem as if it is a joke which is not in my belief. But with this occurring many people will see boxing as useless because there are numerous boxers who have trained for years on years just to be put in the same category as Jake Paul. May seem as if a bit of an insult to many that love the sport, as someone who has studied the ins and outs of boxing. The allowing of amateurs to come in and act just anyway is sad. But with every sports industry it comes with the territory because everyone is trying to make money and when money is somewhere the people will swarm. I know people who hate Jake Paul entering boxing but will be the first to watch his matches which is something many people do. They say they hate but many will be a quick to pay to watch the fight. Even though the fights are not with professional fighters unlike his latest one coming up to Ben Askren a UFC fighter. But in my mind, I don’t have hope for Ben based on his striking abilities. So Jake will win again extending his “boxing career”.