Jake Paul has vowed to land another highlight real knockout on Anderson Silva, telling fans that it will be boxing's "knockout of the year".
The YouTuber-turned-boxer landed what many fans felt was the best stoppage of last year when after a lack-lustre rematch with Tyron Woodley in December, he landed a massive shot in the sixth round that put the ex-UFC champion down. ESPN Ringside awarded it the best KO of the year, while many included it in their shortlist.
But he will have pulled off an incredible feat if he can do the same to Silva, who has a number of physical advantages over Paul as well as a history as one of MMA's greatest ever strikers. Even within the twilight of his career after leaving the UFC, Silva has managed to land major wins in the boxing ring over the likes of former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr among others.
Paul's team are known for their deep video analysis of opponents, and new footage from his training camp released as part of Showtime's All Access series he can be seen repetitively watching Silva's clash with Chavez Jr. He, along with coaches Danny Smith and BJ Flores, discuss what they see in the performance as Paul runs on a treadmill.
"Knockout of the year incoming," Paul can be heard saying in part of the footage. "Yeah I've seen this a bunch of times and every time I see it I just find more openings. He loves to get in that corner and dance - I'm not going to play that s***, it's my ring, it's my fight, I'm the A-Side for a reason - he's not going to come in there and do that s***, I'm not going to feed into it."
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Paul has just finished up his Puerto Rican training camp and is heading to Arizona for what will be the toughest test of his career. Silva is taller and longer than his rival, and is the first southpaw that he will have faced in his career thus far, even counting his white collar bout before turning professional.
The pair have remained respectful of one another throughout the fight build-up, which is rare for one of Paul's contests given his abrasive promotional style. But he was a childhood fan of Silva's, even admitting that a meeting between the pair when he was a kid inspired him to pursue fighting later in life.
