Jake Paul has been the beneficiary of some lucrative proposals in the days that have followed his victory against Mike Tyson, although the most eye-catching offer of all came from reigning IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois, who is yet to find an opponent for his upcoming fight in Riyadh. Yet, despite the allure of the opportunity to pull off the upset of the century and win the coveted title, Jake Paul has turned Dubois down.
‘The Problem Child’ comfortably defeated a faded version of ‘Iron Mike’ last Friday in one of the most watched events in recent memory, although it was Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano who truly stole the show prior to an underwhelming main-event.
Nevertheless, Paul-Tyson was a monumental financial success for the headliners and the clash has caught the attention of boxers around the planet, with Paul arguably the most sought-after payday in the sport.
At present, undisputed light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and current WBC bridgerweight champion Kevin Lerena make up two of the three active title-holders to have called for a showdown with the YouTuber-turned-boxer, but it is Daniel Dubois’ offer that has sparked the most outrage.
Shortly after his fight with the once ‘Baddest Man on the Planet’, Paul received a message from the hard-hitting Brit, offering the polarising social media sensation a shot for ‘the legitimate heavyweight championship of the world’ – a challenge that seemed to be accepted at the time.
However, Jake Paul has since had a change of thought and will now not pursue a challenge for the heavyweight world title, as his manager Nakisa Bidarian told Sky Sports that Paul’s interest is elsewhere as for now.
“When Jake got that DM, he sent it to me and said: ‘How funny is this, how the world has turned.'”
“Jake’s feedback to me was I want to do that fight. Not now. But I want to do that fight,”
“To be a world champion at cruiserweight, he wants to do that. The other is to test the limits of expectations. Test the limits of what’s possible.”
“It isn’t about the money. He’s made lots of money from the time he was 18 years old. It’s really about disruption.
“It’s really about doing things that make you say: ‘Wow, that really happened.’ That’s what excites us.”
Instead Paul is poised to drop back down to the cruiserweight division and adopt a more natural weight for his next outing.
Although, a comparably less competitive bridgerweight division could provide the 27-year-old with the perfect opportunity to capture a world title and silence his doubters in the future.
Meanwhile, Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren has explained that an opponent will be announced imminently for his ‘Triple D’s’ second title defence and refused to rule out a meeting with Paul down the line.
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