Dana White believes Jake Paul should work with a respected boxing promoter after the collapse of his fight with Hasim Rahman Jr.
Paul was set to face Rahman Jr in his sixth professional fight at Madison Square Garden this weekend, but the fight was cancelled by the YouTube star who accused his rival of missing their contracted weight. This is the second time Paul has lost an opponent at short notice, with previous planned opponent Tommy Fury unable to travel to the US to settle their rivalry.
The YouTube star currently promotes himself under label Most Valuable Promotions which is also headed by his manager Nakisa Bidarian who was previously Chief Financial Officer at the UFC, but White is convinced that Paul needs to work with a more established promoter. "He needs to get a real f****** guy," White told reporters when pressed on whether Paul should part ways with current manager Bidarian.
"If you look at all the greats that are out there, Don King, Bob Arum is a f****** scumbag and I hate him but I cannot deny he is an all-time great. You have Frank Warren who is one of the all-time greats, Eddie Hearn he is also out there and there is a lot of guys out there.
"There is a lot of guys out there who will do the Jake Paul thing. Jake Paul needs to align himself with one of those guys and get himself away from the warlock [Bidarian]. He is a f****** accountant, just because you worked for the UFC it doesn't mean you know how to put on fights."
Bidarian has been Paul's manager and advisor since the start of his YouTube boxing career, despite Hearn initially promoting Paul's debut against AnEson Gib back in 2019. White has become good friends with Matchroom Boxing kingpin Hearn and the pair were seen cageside at the UFC's London return in March.
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Paul and Hearn have already worked together this year to promote Katie Taylor's historic victory over Amanda Serrano in New York. The pair confirmed they had a good working relationship during the promotion, despite being sat down in a head-to-head and talking up a fight between each other.
However tensions have raised between the pair since the conclusion of the promotion, with Paul criticising Hearn's opinion on his boxing career. Most recently Paul offered a deal for Serrano to earn a rematch with Taylor in Ireland, but Hearn dismissed it and ridiculed his place as a boxing promoter.
"It just is another example of him knowing nothing about the boxing business or boxing in general," Hearn told the DAZN Boxing Show when reviewing the public offer. "To suggest she can fight at 126lb is the most ridiculous and idiotic thing anyone can say. Maybe he doesn't know how people can cut weight."
