{"id":34284,"date":"2025-04-20T01:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T01:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/34284\/"},"modified":"2025-04-20T01:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T01:03:12","slug":"ilia-topuria-explains-why-you-have-to-respect-jake-paul-in-surprising-take-on-boxer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/34284\/","title":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria explains why \u2018you have to respect\u2019 Jake Paul in surprising take on boxer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ilia Topuria surprisingly doesn\u2019t hate Jake Paul like so many other UFC fighters do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Love him or hate him, Jake Paul<\/a> has paved his own unique path in the boxing ring by beating multiple former UFC stars, YouTubers and most recently real boxers.<\/p>\n

Granted, Paul\u2019s last opponent the legendary Mike Tyson<\/a> was 58 years old but the former heavyweight champion and YouTuber-turned-boxer put on the most-streamed sporting event of all time<\/a> on Netflix last November.<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s lackluster decision win over Tyson drew in a record 108M viewers worldwide.<\/p>\n

Now, the 28-year-old is set to box former WBC Champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr<\/a>. on June 28th on DAZN pay-per-view.<\/p>\n

Embed from Getty Images<\/a>Ilia Topuria credits Jake Paul: \u2018He makes you go to the TV\u2019<\/p>\n

A PPV headliner in his last two fights against Alexander Volkanovski<\/a> and Max Holloway<\/a>, former UFC Featherweight Champion Ilia Topuria<\/a> likes what he sees from Paul, whose next opponent was nearly Canelo Alvarez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While other fighters like Michael Bisping pile on Paul for fighting much older foes<\/a> and his social media antics, Topuria says the American is due credit for stepping into the ring and all the eyes he brings in because of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to respect that,\u201d Topuria said of Paul on The Full Send Podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne way or another, he makes you go to the TV and watch him fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to give him his credit, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ilia Topuria challenges Jake Paul\u2019s critics to do the same<\/p>\n

Paul started his pro career in 2020 by boxing YouTuber AnEsonGib and NBA star Nate Robinson before gradually increasing his competition against former MMA champions Ben Askren<\/a>, Tyron Woodley<\/a> and a 47-year-old Anderson Silva<\/a>, one of the all-time greats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A boxer with a 11-1 record, Paul still gets a ton of hate to this day with many fans hoping to see him get knocked out.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people say \u2018he\u2019s a YouTuber\u2019\u2026 Do the same thing,\u201d Topuria said of Paul\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo it. Try to do it\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people doesn\u2019t understand how difficult it is to [fight].\u201d<\/p>\n

Topuria continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have so many things going on on Saturday. Concerts, you can go and watch a movie, so many things\u2026 why someone has to choose you to stay at home or go to the stadium and watch your fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have that ability, and he has it, and you have to respect that,\u201d Topuria said of Paul\u2019s drawing power.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ilia Topuria surprisingly doesn\u2019t hate Jake Paul like so many other UFC fighters do. Love him or hate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,19906,17819,79,5706,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-34284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ilia-topuria","10":"tag-jake-paul","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-ufc","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114367601461790834","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}