It’s Jake Paul time again!
The opinion-splitting Youtuber embarks on his sixth professional fight this weekend in Glendale, Arizona, looking to add the former UFC champion, Anderson Silva, to his growing list of victims.
Ali Eson Gib, Nate Robinson, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, twice, have all fallen at the hands of Paul so far as the 25-year-old “Problem Child” looks to build towards credibility in the cruiserweight division.
Anderson Silva is 47 and a former middleweight king in the UFC but has now turned his hand to boxing in later years, notching up a modest 3-1 record fighting an array of unlikely opponents.
Will the Jake Paul hype train keep steaming on this weekend, or will Silva pull the brakes?
Father time
Anderson Silva is an easy sell as an opponent to Jake Paul.
The “Spider” holds the record for the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days and is widely considered one of the greatest of all time in MMA.
The fact he is a striker – rather than a grappler like Ben Askren – also enables this fight to be sold as more competitive against the novice Jake Paul, but age cannot be underestimated.
At 47, Silva is nearly twice the age of Paul and arguably shouldn’t be contesting such bouts still.
Love him or hate him, Paul is a big, strong, healthy 25-year-old who has proven he can pack a punch – Silva may be wily enough to make Paul miss in the opening stages, but if he gets caught flush, it could well be goodnight.
Nature or nurture?
The Jake Paul experiment is an interesting one.
Throughout history, boxing has been dominated by the rags-to-riches “Rocky” stories of fighters, but Paul has flipped this on its head.
What if an athletic guy with endless money applies himself to the sport, gets the best facilities available, the best advice and sparring partners and tries to climb the ladder a different way?
Well, we will probably get a little closer to finding out this weekend when Paul fights Silva, but until he fights an established pro fighter, the question marks will still loom.
It’s easy to knock Paul, but he seems to be taking it seriously – and that’s all we can really ask of him. For there have been much shadier and more concerning operators in the sport than a 25-year-old YouTuber.
Prediction
Paul does enough of the fundamentals right to give Silva a handful of problems on Saturday night.
Silva is a faded force in a code that isn’t his forte, and if Paul boxes to a gameplan, he should be able to get the 47-year-old out of there with a clean, healthy cheque in hand.
Paul, by an earlyish stoppage, is where the value lies as Silva trots off into the sunset.
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Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva
Paul can outclass Silva to keep his unbeaten record intact
At 10/19 a £10 bet would return £15.26
Jake Paul vs Anderson Silva
October 29, 2022
Tips:
- Jake Paul to beat Anderson Silva – 10/19 with bet365
- Jake Paul to beat Anderson Silva by KO, TKO or Disqualification - 9/4 with bet365
- Jake Paul to beat Anderson Silva by KO, TKO or Disqualification in Rounds 1-4 - 9/2 with bet365
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