Logan Paul knows he’ll only fight one man next month, but he’s been preparing for two.
The YouTube star is scheduled to fight Bellator fighter Dillon Danis on Oct. 14 at AO Arena in Manchester, England in the co-main event of Misfits Boxing’s The PRIME Card. The bout is scheduled for six, three-minute rounds, and will be contested at 195 pounds.
Yet, despite having pen on paper, Paul isn’t sure that Danis will show up to fight him, as Danis pulled out of his previous fight against KSI earlier this year. That’s why Paul assigned former UFC fighter and bareknuckle boxer Mike Perry as the official backup.
“We spend about 25 percent of our time preparing for Mike, just in case,” Paul told Ariel Helwani. “We might have to up that in these last couple of weeks, but I think these next 10 days or so we’ll know if Dillon is coming.”
This isn’t an ideal scenario for Paul, and he admits there’s a degree of dread if Danis no-shows the fight, as he’ll have to box a much more credentialed fighter in the striking department. Either way, he’s confident he’ll get his hand raised no matter who shows up.
“It sucks because Mike Perry is no joke and he’s an orthodox fighter,” Paul said. “When you’ve been preparing for a southpaw MMA fighter for two months, studying his tactics, getting his technique down to beat a southpaw, and you’re not sure that guy is going to show up. Instead, the guy that’s going to show up is a brick of a human, a tank who walks forward and can take any shot possible in an orthodox position, it’s going to f*ck up my game plan, to be honest.
“I chose Mike Perry for a reason. I like the challenge. I got the toughest guy I can get. I know he’s training hard. I told him because Dillon threw a temper tantrum at our press conference and left the arena because he’s a crybaby, I told him, ‘Keep working because this guy is not going to show up.’ I firmly believe that whoever is across from me that night is going to get knocked out.”
