Jake Paul returns to the boxing ring on Saturday night, albeit against an unexpected, but familiar foe. Paul squares off against former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley in a rematch of their August showdown.
Paul was expected to face Tommy Fury, the brother of WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, but he was forced to withdraw just two weeks before with a medical issue.
Now, Paul gets another chance against Woodley, whom he beat by split decision four months earlier but failed to score a knockdown or knockout against.
Woodley actually scored the most noteworthy punch of that fight when he forced Paul to stumble into the ropes. Paul has said that with the fight coming together on short notice, he included a clause that gives Woodley an additional $500,000 if he scores a knockout.
“When I got the call for this fight, my thought was that things happened for a reason. Everything is aligned. Something wasn’t sitting right for me about Jake fighting Tommy Fury.
They didn’t even have to finish their sentence before I said yes to the rematch,” Woodley said. “I’m just excited about the opportunity to redeem myself. We found out a lot about each other that night in the ring.
We have mutual respect, but there’s still unfinished business. You have to be patient in finishing someone off in this sport. You have to respect their power and I’m not going to pretend like he doesn’t have power. We both do.”
Paul hopes to move on to more circus-type fights with a win on Saturday, perhaps against Fury again or maybe the likes of more UFC-level foes, like Nate Diaz or Conor McGregor.
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Diaz is in town this weekend to corner his teammate Chris Avlia on the prelims when he takes on Anthony Taylor, which Paul has hinted at as being done intentionally. McGregor famously boxed Floyd Mayweather in August 2017, losing by 10th-round TKO in his professional debut.
“My career has become about shutting people up. This is another version of that. We’re here to up the ante,” Paul said at the final press conference. “Just because I’m paying him to beat me,
doesn’t mean he can. If anything, it’s to my advantage, because he’s going to come out recklessly and get caught. I hurt him multiple times in that first fight, and I didn’t even hit him with my best shot. It was a bad night and I still beat him. He should be embarrassed by that.”
