Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather both have pretty sweet rackets set up. Jake Paul is making millions fighting over-the-hill MMA fighters. Floyd Mayweather is making millions fighting random opponents in Japan and Dubai. Floyd hasn’t said too much about Jake’s game, but of course Jake couldn’t resist ripping Floyd after his latest $10+ million paycheck to fight Mikuru Asakura at Super RIZIN this weekend.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen, picture this,” Paul said in a video posted to social media. “It’s 2022, Floyd Mayweather is ruining his legacy fighting no-name guys, wasting his fans money, wasting his fans time. He doesn’t even know the names of the guys he’s fighting to make some money to pay his tax bills.”
All that hate was just a set up, though, to challenge Mayweather to a fight.
“Floyd Mayweather telling Jake Paul that you will only fight Jake Paul if he comes down to his weight, 140 pounds or something,” Paul said. “I can’t believe what’s going on in the world. I can’t believe this is real.”
“Floyd, I will fight you,” Paul declared. “And you know that’s one of the biggest fights to make in boxing. I weigh 175, you weigh 165. We can get that done, make a couple hundred million. But what will your excuse be? You didn’t care what my brother weighed, so why do you care what I weigh? Oh, because you know. You know what’s going to happen.”
Paul brought things back to one of his press conference antics in the lead up to Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul where Jake snatched Mayweather’s hat off his head, nearly instigating a full-scale brawl.
“I want to say, ‘I’ve got your 0.’” Jake said. “I don’t want to just say, ‘I’ve got your hat.’ I got your 0.”
“But you’re going to find a way to dance around this,” he continued. “You’ve said, ‘Oh, once he finds a professional fighter, he’s going to get destroyed. It’ll be back for him.’ Why not let that be you? The best ever. There’s only one Mayweather. But he’s scared to fight Jake Paul. It’s 2022, I can’t believe what the f—’s going on, guys. Goddammit.”
Paul already has a big challenge ahead of him as he prepares to box Anderson Silva in October. Even at 47 years old, Silva is still a dangerous opponent who finished his 2021 off by knocking Tito Ortiz out cold in a boxing bout. As for Floyd Mayweather, he doesn’t seem interested at all in fighting bigger, tougher opponents. He’s got a November exhibition set to fight YouTuber KSI’s brother Deji.
“I retired from the sport, I didn’t let the sport retire me,” Mayweather said at the Super RIZIN post-fight press conference. “I’m not going to take punishment to the point where I can barely walk and barely talk. I’m not going to get in there with no former fighters, former world champions, putting any more abuse on my body.”
Floyd Mayweather confirms he absolutely will not be fighting Manny Pacquiao in an exhibition rematch: “I retired from the sport, I didn’t let the sport retire me… I’m not going to take punishment to the point where I can barely walk and barely talk.”
[ ️ @RIZIN_PR] pic.twitter.com/tX2dYBWmOV
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) September 25, 2022
Mayweather’s words were in response to the idea of boxing Manny Pacquiao, who sat ringside as “Money” KO’d Mikuru Asakura in Japan. But they apply to Jake Paul as well.
“I retired for a reason,” Mayweather said. “I’m here to have fun, enjoy myself, with guys that are going to help me entertain the people, but I’m not going to take punishment to the point where I can barely walk and barely talk.”