It's Time to End the Jake Paul Circus in Boxing
The exact moment is unclear.
But at some point on Friday night, Jake Paul knew the jig was up.
He wasn't big enough, strong enough, skilled enough or conditioned enough to do all the things he'd promised to do to Anthony Joshua.
Which meant the inevitable was all that remained.
Eventually, when the physical gap between the two of them in the ring narrowed, it'd show just how vast the competitive gap is between where Paul stands as a carnival barker and where he claims to want to be as a world-class boxer.
Psst... for those without a Netflix login, it's pretty vast.
After five years of feasting on MMA has-beens, boxing never-weres and ex-champs who dine at 4 p.m., Paul took his act to the "real fighter" side of the street at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
He left with gassed lungs, weary legs and a broken jaw. And presumably, too, with the awareness that it's high time to take the air out of the big top.
Unless, that is, he plans to set up alongside the fire eater and the bearded lady on the brain-addled sideshow circuit.
Because Paul's 16-plus minutes with Joshua were as confounding as they were combative.
It may have been the Brit's actual ring size—or the body shot landed in the opening round—but the interloper seemed to recognize early that his end game had shifted from success to survival.
So he reacted as any overmatched novice might, darting around the perimeter to avoid exchanges and hugging his foe like a long-missed friend whenever they got close.
His frequent tumbles to the canvas seemed a possible exit ramp, too, and prompted fed-up referee Chris Young to suggest they cut the crap for the benefit of the paying (and loudly booing) customers.
Paul succumbed to his fate, awkwardly falling and admirably rising from a series of hard shots through the fifth and into the sixth, until a wicked right convinced him to take Young's full 10 count at 1:31.
The shot left him spitting blood and sharing X-rays in the aftermath, though he suggested only a few months of rehab would precede resumption of a quest for title shot at cruiserweight.
But the more he thinks about it, the less feasible it seems.
The multi-millionaire is bratty and chatty and not everyone's cup of tea, but he's also smart enough to know a failed premise when he sees it.
Only a fool would suggest that Joshua's size advantage was the lone disparity between the two in the ring, given his Olympic pedigree and resume of wins over past champions and respected contenders.
To think that merely fighting guys one weight class down would erase all that is not only ridiculous, it's dangerous. Particularly for a guy licking serious competitive wounds for the first time.
In case you've not seen him, reigning 200-pound king Jai Opetaia is nothing if not imposing with a 6'2" frame, a 76-inch reach and a background that saw him compete at the very same 2012 Olympics from which Joshua emerged with a gold medal.
And the other guys in the mix are no picnic either, given Zurdo Ramirez's past title run at light heavyweight and David Benavidez's consensus inclusion on worthwhile pound-for-pound lists.
Which means, unless he wants to snatch an IBO belt from the shelves at Five Below and pass it off as legit, Paul's reality at cruiserweight seems only slightly less dire than the jam in which he found himself on the shores of the Biscayne Bay this weekend.
Trust us, Jake. There are a lot better ways to find fun on South Beach.
.jpg?w=600 "Post-June 1 Trade Candidates ☎️")
