By Norm Frauenheim –
It’s a main event, pay-per-view, between fighters with a combined 14-0 record compiled against YouTubers, a 3-time NBA Slam Dunk champion, a 47-year-old mixed-martial-arts legend and a guy – who at last count — is 0-47.
A pound for-pound list, it’s not. More like butchers, bakers and tomato can makers.
Step right up. For just $49.99, you can get ripped off, too. Plenty of customers will, of course. But there’s a market for it, proven repeatedly by Jake Paul, who is expected to deliver some more of the evidence against Tommy Fury on Feb 26 in Saudi Arabia
The Paul-Fury promoter, Skill Challenge Entertainment, knows that. So, too, do the networks. That’s why the bout will be staged on ESPN+, which from this corner gets more of a minus than a plus for selling this one.
But only the numbers matter. Paul has been generating big ones. He draws crowds. He gets PPV buys that Terence Crawford never has. And never will. But can he fight? That’s a stupid question.
He’ll say he can. Ever the provocateur, he calls out Canelo Alvarez. He rips UFC czar Dana White. He accuses UK promoter Eddie Hearn of a fix. Hearn sues, then says he’d still do business with him.
At the bully pulpit, there’s never been a bigger bully. There, Paul knows what he’s doing. Within the ropes, who knows?
But it doesn’t matter. It’s all about the show, and — in the here-and-now – Paul is the undisputed showman.
I’ve only been to one Paul fight. He scored a boxing decision over 47-year-old Anderson Silva, a former UFC star, at a jammed Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale AZ early last December. On my scorecard, it was a draw. But a knockdown of Silva was enough to give it to Paul. No argument there.
Still, it looked as if Paul was just too easy to hit. He looked to be a long way from a main event, much less a chance at a champion or even a contender. He left himself wide-open for repeated shots from Silva. Maybe Fury, Tyson Fury’s brother, can take advantage. Maybe not. In Saudi Arabia, it might not matter in a bout that figures to go Paul’s way. Translation: Expect controversy.
That, however, would set the stage for what Paul does best. He’s the master of post-fight controversy.
The post-fight newser is an irreplaceable part of the show.
So, too, is the pre-fight newser.
That’s when I asked a question after welcoming Paul to former super-middleweight champion David Benavidez’ hometown.
Paul had been saying he wanted to promote Benavidez. I asked: Why not fight Benavidez instead? Paul looked back at me as though I was a nutcase.
Then in a sober, measured tone, he said he wasn’t ready for a fight at Benavidez’ level. No bullyboy response. It was the right answer.
A couple of days later, he called out Canelo. The Canelo challenge got the attention. The reasonable answer to the Benavidez question got little.
It was an instructive sequence, a plot line in a well-rehearsed show that must go on.
About four months later, Paul arrives in Saudi Arabia with assurances from the World Boxing Council (WBC) that he will be ranked at cruiserweight if he wins.
At first, I was confused. Did the WBC say ranked? Or rank? The Paul-Fury fight is more of the latter than deserving of the former.
Paul, a 26-year-old novice, has yet to face a full-fledged boxer. He beat Silva, who had some boxing experience. Silva beat Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Before Silva, he beat Nate Robinson, an ex-NBA point guard and slam-dunk champ. Then, there’s Fury, whose record is arguably even more problematic than Paul’s.
His 8-0 record came against opponents with a cumulative record of 24-176-5. One, Genadij Krajevskij, went into a November 2020 loss to Fury at 0-11. After a TKO loss to Fury, Krajevskij lost 35 more bouts.
At 0-47, it’s a wonder that Krajevskij, a Lithuanian living in the UK, can get licensed.
To drive or fight.
But that’s another story.
It’s the promised WBC ranking that has generated most of the controversy. Presumably, Fury will get the ranking if he wins. But would there be any ranking at all if the fight didn’t include Paul? Sorry, that’s another stupid question.
It’s been pointed out that WBC rankings include 40 fighters in each division. Most other rankings only include the top 15. It was a revelation that there were 40 cruiserweights in the world. Who knew? But Oleksandr Usyk, now a heavyweight champ hoping to fight the other Fury, took the snoozer out of cruiser. He made it relevant.
But a Paul ranking threatens to return it to irrelevancy, even if he moves into the bottom half of the 40. But those aren’t the kind of numbers that matter.
To the WBC
Or ESPN.
