Jake Paul is embroiled in another storm about paying fighters for knockouts after Rampage Jackson quizzed former foe Tyron Woodley.
Woodley even named the price it would take for him to allow someone like Paul to knock him out.
Jackson spoke to Woodley on a transmission of the Jaxxon Podcast and almost got the MMA star to break. However, when he stated, “I’m sorry to have to ask you this.
Was Jake Paul’s fight a setup?
“I know you’ve probably signed an NDA [non-disclosure agreement], but blink twice if that Jake Paul fight was set up.”
Woodley looked sheepish before joking: “I would never blink because I’ve got these little bitty eyes. I don’t need much air to keep them open.”
He added, “A lot of people wonder that, but think about this. If I said to you I’m going to pay you two million bucks to let this dude beat you, what are you going to do?
“You’re going to feel disrespected, number one. That isn’t enough money. What I got paid in the Jake fights, for me to do that, I’ve got to be willing to walk away for good.
“That’s got to set me up for a while, at least not for life, but something like 20-some million, where I can invest it and fall off in the shade. That’s what you have to do.”
Whether he’d have done it, Woodley replied: “Would I do something like that?
“You have to know me to know I’m too solid of a guy even to have someone walk to me and ask me.
“What happened to me was what would happen to him if I dropped those hands.”
Rampage really asked Tyron Woodley to blink twice if the Jake Paul fight was set up 💀 pic.twitter.com/DRQxjE8ulT
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) December 28, 2023
Credibility
Woodley lost twice to Paul, the first being a decision and the second a shuddering stoppage. His boxing career around those Paul fights has been non-existent.
Losing to someone like Jake Paul doesn’t favor your credibility. Therefore, it’s doubtful that someone of Woodley’s stature would be involved in such a controversial situation.
The fact that respected combat voices such as Rampage Jackson feel the need even to put that question across is enough of a slight against Paul for the YouTuber to realize his place in the grand scheme of the sport.
Paul can call out Canelo all he wants, but gaining any respect as a boxer would only come if he actually fought genuine bonafide boxing contenders every single fight.
The truth is, the influencer is yet to face even one.
Phil Jay is an experienced boxing news writer and has been the Editor of World Boxing News since 2010.
