Jake Paul’s manager, Nakisa Bidarian, says they are not interested in accepting a fight with IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois. Bidarian says Jake’s immediate goal is to return to cruiserweight to become world champion at that weight.
It doesn’t shock Jake too much that he turned down Dubois’ offer to fight for the IBF title because it wouldn’t be a contest. He is not ready for a fighter like Dubois.
“Not Now” – Why Paul Avoids Dubois
Bidarian doesn’t say who Jake will fight to become cruiserweight champion because he will be equal to any champion out there. However, if the WBC puts one of its smaller titles up for grabs, such as Diamond, silver, or temporary.Paul can succeed against the right type of enemy. KSI or Salt Papi would be good. The downside is that Jake wouldn’t be taken seriously by die-hard boxing fans, but his fans weren’t paying attention.
World Cruiserweight Champions
– Gilberto Ramirez: WBA & WBO
– Jai Opetaia: IBF
– Noel Mikaelyan: WBC
Jake wants to capture the cruiserweight world title before moving up to heavyweight to challenge for the belt against someone like Dubois. Jake’s best chance to win a world title at cruiserweight would be the WBC title Noel Michaelyan. He is widely seen as the weak link among the top three in the division.
Paul, 27, defeated 58-year-old former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson last Friday in a fight that many fans felt was scripted as theatrics. Fans pointed out that Tyson pulled his fists to avoid hurting the youth fight-hustler Paul (11-1, 7 KOs), who has yet to fight a world-class fighter in his four-year career.
IBF champion Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) wanted to get into gear to give Jake a free title shot without having to win the fight, because it seemed that the way his career had changed, there was no intention of following the normal rules of boxing.
Jake will likely never agree to fight a top 15 heavyweight contender or compete for a world title shot against someone like Martin Bakole, Agit Kabayel, or Zhilei Zhang. With Jake’s popularity, he doesn’t need to work for the title. It will be given to him.
“Jake’s response to me is, ‘I want to fight.’ [with Dubois but] not now, but I want to do that fight,’” said Nakisa Bidarian on Sky Sports about Jake Paul not interested in facing IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois now.
“To be world champion at cruiserweight, that’s what he wants to do. Another one [fighting Dubois] testing the limits of expectations. Explore the limits of what’s possible,” Bidarian said. “It’s not about money. He has made a lot of money since he was 18 years old. It’s about doing things that make you say: ‘Wow, that really happened.’ That’s what makes us happy.”
Jake defeated a seemingly hapless Mike Tyson by an eight-round unanimous decision in front of a massive crowd of 73,000+ fans at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The scores were 79-73, 80-72 and 79-73.
The sad part is that the Texas Commission approved the Paul vs. Tyson as a legitimate professional fight is counted in the record books despite the match being two minutes long and both fighters wearing 14-oz gloves.
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