Jake Paul could earn himself a world ranking with a win over Anderson Silva - despite the UFC legend's lack of boxing experience.
Paul, 25, will attempt to record his sixth professional win tomorrow night when he challenges idol turned rival Silva in an eight-round fight contested at 187lb. 'The Problem Child' was promised a spot in the WBC rankings if he beat son-of-a-legend Hasim Rahman Jr back in August, but the fight was eventually cancelled over a row about weight.
And while WBC chief Mauricio Sulaiman hasn't guaranteed a win over UFC legend Silva will bank Paul a world ranking, he admitted the organisation will be paying attention to the fight. "When I made that tweet, my followers blew up and I got a lot of heat," Sulaiman told Fight Hype.
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"Jake Paul has a record in professional boxing and he has been improving the level of opposition. Of course the WBC ratings committee is open to consider fighters for rankings considering all of the different variables which are activity, level of opposition, results and so on. So let's see what happens Saturday. At the convention, the rankings will be addressed and the whole committee will meet. 24 people from all over the world meeting to come up with an official ratings for November, so we will keep an eye on Jake Paul to see what happens."
If Paul is to creep into the WBC's top 40 by beating Silva, he would have done so without having beaten an opponent consnidered a 'real boxer' having previously fought former MMA champions, an NBA star in Nate Robinson and fellow content creator AnEsonGib. Sulaiman likened the criticism Paul gets to that of boxing legends Muhammad Ali and Floyd Mayweather whilst adding that he and brother Logan have only benefitted the sport.
"When someone brings millions of new eyes to the sport, how can you be against that? People may not like him because of his looks, what he says or what he does outside of the ring but so be it," Sulaiman added. "People did not like Muhammad Ali, half of the people that watched him wanted him to lose. They called him a traitor and all of these names, but today he is regarded as the greatest athlete in the history of humanity.
" Floyd Mayweather, a lot of people didn't like to see him and wanted him to lose. People may want to see Jake Paul lose but they are going to tune in. It's very easy to criticise and simply bully people in the cyberspace because of personal situations, but what Jake and Logan Paul have done is a miracle so let's support them."
