Boxing has officially reached a deteriorated state as undisputed light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and IBF heavyweight Daniel Dubois have reached out to American influencer Jake Paul for a fight―with the monetary benefits such a spectacle could generate suspected to be the reason for their call outs. Oddly enough, both fighters have competed on Riyadh Season cards over the past two months, and with fighters supposedly earning substantial earnings by competing on these cards, Paul’s presence is threatening to destabilize even Riyadh Season’s efforts to appropriately compensate fighters.
Russian-Canadian fighter Artur Beterbiev (21-0, 20 KO’s) last fought on October 12 and managed to defeat Russian rival Dmitry Bivol (23-1, 12 KO’s) to become the undisputed champion of the light-heavyweight (175 lbs) division. Riyadh Season was supposed to be the bastion that would liberate fighters from cash-grab attempts by abundantly compensating them and stimulate competitiveness, but Beterbiev’s recent attempt to fight Jake Paul suggests an entirely different story.
“[Jake Paul] what can you do in the ring against the current undisputed champion?” Beterbiev posted on Instagram. “Just know that I’m always open to any suggestions.”
Unsurprisingly, an elated Jake Paul responded by using this moment to claim he ran the sport:
“Just seen this….top 5 pound for pound fighter in the world calling me out,” Paul responded on Twitter/X. “Hahahahahaha. 4 years in and I run this sport.“
Notably, Paul did not indicate whether he would accept the fight, a fact that Beterbiev himself would hone in on:
“After four years it’s time to have serious challenges,” Beterbiev replied. “Didn’t notice your acceptance or rejection. So what are we gonna do?“
Within the same week, another notable fighter reached out to Paul; IBF heavyweight (200+ lbs) champion Daniel Dubois (22-2, 21 KO’s):
“Hi Jake. Good business on the weekend but how would you feel fighting for the legitimate heavyweight championship of the world,” Daniel Dubois texted Jake Paul days after the Tyson-Paul card on November 15. “This is Daniel Dubois calling you out. Let’s go!“
The callouts from both Dubois and Beterbiev perfectly encapsulate how Jake Paul has managed to attain an amount of popularity that has made him one of the more marketable fighters in the sport, despite his ability falling short of making him even a fringe contender.
With Mike Tyson having reportedly received around $20 million for his fight against Jake Paul―who received $40 million, even Riyadh Season’s payouts appear to not be able to offer such substantial earnings on a consistent basis, which could explain why both Beterbiev and Dubois have attempted to fight Paul.
Alternatively, this could merely be an attempt by either fighter to boost their publicity or genuinely seek to face Paul as a means to save the reputation of the sport. Interestingly, if the latter, it would be interesting to see which state athletic commission would approve of those type of mismatches if Paul were to agree.
Texas’ boxing commission would be fully on-board to approve of such a fight given they allowed a 58-year old Tyson to face a 27-year old Paul, and despite the large discrepancy between the abilities of Paul and the champions that called him out, there should be no barrier to allowing such a fight to transpire given the spectacle of the Tyson-Paul fight was allowed to occur.
Whether any of the sanctioning bodies [WBA, WBC, WBO & IBF] would approve of this fight is another matter entirely, though the WBA and WBC are susceptible to corruption and might allow Artur Beterbiev to defend his titles against Jake Paul if the fight were to be arranged.
The WBO and IBF are not expected to entertain such gross mismatches and Paul would be required to be a top 15 contender to be allowed to face either Artur Beterbiev or Daniel Dubois. The two sanctioning bodies would further not stoop to placing unsuitable contenders in the position to challenge―such as what the WBC has done throughout Deontay Wilder’s (43-4-1, 42 KO’s) career, heavily impacting the possibility of Paul being able to engage with Dubois, and limiting the scope of titles Paul can fight for if a fight were to be arranged with Beterbiev.
