Influencer boxer Jake Paul and Gervonta Davis are set to face each other in the boxing ring for a Netflix special, and many are eager to see it happen, including UFC veteran Matt Brown.
The two compete at different weight classes, with Davis collecting gold at lightweight while Paul fights at cruiserweight and heavyweight. Fans are concerned with this matchup since Davis is a championship boxer competing under 135 pounds, while Paul has weighed over 209 pounds. For now, it’s uncertain what weight they will compete at and whether it will be an official match or an exhibition contest. Despite the concerns, UFC vet Matt Brown says he understands Paul’s decision to face Davis instead of a lesser cruiserweight boxer.
“I’m here for the circus,” Brown said on The Fighter vs. The Writer. “Jake Paul sold me. Maybe it’s the marketing, maybe it’s the bullshit. He sold me. I’m into it. I want to see it now. The fact that it’s Tank Davis, I love watching him fight. I want to see him fight him now.
“I’d rather see Jake fight somebody real, just like everybody else, ‘yeah, fight somebody your size that’s real good.’ He’s trying to sell tickets. He don’t give a f*ck. He’s selling tickets to the circus, and I’m going to the circus. I want to see it.”
Brown believes the fight may be similar to Logan Paul’s exhibition boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather in 2021. Mayweather was retired at the time, but the match raked in 1 million PPV buys even though no winner was declared. Brown says Davis might end up winning the fight, which adds another layer of intrigue.
“I tell you what we’re going to learn, if Tank Davis takes it serious, Tank Davis is going to beat his ass,” Brown said. “I just don’t know if Tank’s going to take it serious. Mentally, I don’t know how checked out he’s been for a while, to be honest. We see what’s going on in his personal life, he’s talked about retiring. He seems when you follow him on social media or his career, he seems to not be interested in doing this job and not really enjoying what he’s doing. I don’t know where he’s at mentally.
“But if he’s at the top of his game mentally, he should destroy Jake Paul easily. I say that because Tank has amazing defense. He’s little and he’s way faster. Jake is not good enough to catch him. Tank should be able to run circles around him and touch him up. He may not knock him out, Jake’s got 100 f*cking pounds on him, but Tank is going to touch him and hurt him. He should not really get hit much in this fight.”
Brown says Paul has found a niche to exploit in combat sports and that all he’s doing is keeping people interested enough to keep watching his fights. Jake Paul also recently faced off against Boxing legend Mike Tyson and defeated the aged icon.
“Have you watched the Fight Circus shit that I do over in Thailand? You love it, it’s fcking great,” Brown said. “Jake Paul’s the American Fight Circus without the dck kicking. It’s fcking great. We just have to see it for what it is. It’s a fcking circus.
“There’s nothing legitimate about this match. If he goes out and knocks out Tank Davis, he’s going to jump on the ropes and put his arms up and scream like he’s a badass. You do have to say something to be able to knock out somebody of Tank’s caliber, I don’t care how big you are. That is something. It’s a circus. It’s kind of cool.”
“I just imagine being Jake Paul and kind of strategically planning all of this from the beginning,” Brown said. “I’m going to dupe everybody into thinking that I’m going to be a pro boxer. I’m going to go fight f*cking washed-up MMA fighters until I beat all of them, and then I’m going to go fight championship-level boxers that are 100 pounds less than me. I guess I have a certain level of respect for that level of marketing and strategy.”
No matter the result in November, Paul is almost assuredly going to continue touting himself as a future champion with aspirations to become one of the best boxers on the planet.
