Floyd Mayweather Says he’d Fight Jake Paul Under One Condition
Floyd Mayweather, 47, said he’d welcome a real fight with Jake Paul under one condition — it would have to be at his own weight, rather than Paul’s, who recently took on Mike Tyson in a sad, heavyweight boxing spectacle.
Paul, 27, boxed for the 12th time of his burgeoning career when, on Friday the 15th of November, he went 8 x 2-minute rounds with a 58-year-old Tyson at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. During the fight, there were two rounds in which Tyson failed to land a single punch. Paul, by contrast, appeared to daze Tyson a couple times, before taking his foot off the gas, and coasting toward a decision win.
Numerous boxers at the elite level, including Artur Beterbiev and Daniel Dubois, have sent fight offers to Paul should he take on a real boxer. And Mayweather, too, has seemingly gotten in line.
Mayweather talked to TMZ Sports about Paul’s rise, and a possible bout between the internet sensation, and boxing’s pound-for-pound stalwart Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
“If you go back, you’ve got to look on the internet and do your homework, I think [Jake] was doing a podcast one time, and he was talking about, ‘I don’t want to do an exhibition against Floyd Mayweather,’ he said ‘‘I’m only doing real fights’,” said Mayweather.
Mayweather commented on the significant weight differential between them now. Paul boxes between cruiserweight, which has an upper limit of 200 pounds, and heavyweight. Mayweather, meanwhile, fought at welterweight in his latter days, which has a limit of 147 pounds.
“Of course, I can’t get high up in weight,” he said.
“I’d fight him in a real fight in the weight that I’m at.”
Mayweather continued: “But Jake Paul, I mean as of right now, for what he’s doing, it’s good for what he’s doing, but once he fights a real actual fighter, it’s gonna be bad. One thing I do like about him, he’s selling it and he’s making good money and he’s entertaining, I like it.”\
It is unclear who Paul could fight next, but he’s had call-outs from numerous big name boxers — both active, and retired. There are fighters who Paul has spoken of frequently in the past, including Conor McGregor and Canelo. And Mayweather believes if ever Paul and Canelo did fight, the result would be clear.
“He’d get f* up by Canelo. There’s no way [that he’d win] he’d get demolished.”
Mayweather and Paul have history as Floyd boxed Paul’s brother Logan in an exhibition in Miami Gardens in 2021. As it was an exhibition, no official winner could be declared.
The build-up to Floyd and Logan’s exhibition, though, was marked by a confrontation when Jake snatched Mayweather’s hat from his head, and said: “Gotcha hat,” before running away. Mayweather could then be seen and heard storming the hallways of the Hard Rock Stadium and made threats when searching for Paul.
