YouTube star Jake Paul has been hailed for making boxing "more popular than ever" since launching his professional career.
The YouTube star has fought five times in the professional ranks defeating the likes of former UFC stars Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley. He has announced that he will return on August 13 in his most highly anticipated fight yet with Tommy Fury and Anderson Silva in the running to be his next opponent.
Former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub believes Paul has caused more people to "tune in" to boxing alongside his brother Logan. "Look at the analytics," Schaub said on the latest episode of The Schaub Show. "The reason boxing has become more popular than ever is because of Jake Paul. That is black and white.
"You can hate on me all you want. The reason boxing views are up is because of Logan and particularly Jake Paul. Boxing needed that to get people to f***ing tune in." He also added that Silva would represent a better opponent for Paul than any rescheduled date with Fury.
“I told him, you going after Bisping is a bad look, he has one eye," he continued. "He’s an analyst now. I know you want a former champion but that’s a bad look. If you want the respect, even though you’re probably going to lose, you’re going to get so much more respect calling out Anderson Silva.
“Go for him, you might lose, but it’s worth it dude. If you just have a good showing, you’re going to get all the respect. In the MMA community, you beat Anderson Silva, I have no criticism. If you’re Jake, you can knock out Tommy Fury, that’s not going to get respect. Most people, including myself, only know him from Love Island. He’s a reality show star, his brother just happens to be the best heavyweight of all time.”
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Paul has had an increasing influence in the combat sports world having been backed by the likes of Canelo Alvarez, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury. He has even launched his own promotional label Most Valuable Promotions which helped stage the undisputed female clash between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano.
The 25-year-old has also come into heavy criticism since launching his career having run-ins with the likes of Tony Bellew and Dana White. Paul has attracted some big pay-per-view audiences to his fights particularly in his maiden clash with Woodley last year.
UFC legend Rampage Jackson believes Paul has helped "resuscitate" the sport since Mike Tyson's retirement. He told South China Morning Post : “I think that they are very entertaining. It seems like they resuscitated boxing.
"With all due respect to all the boxers even though I’m MMA all day, I represent MMA and we got a war against boxers right now, I don’t hate boxers or the sport of boxing. I think boxing is a great craft that I’ve been trading for 15 or more years now. Once Mike Tyson left boxing wasn’t exciting anymore."
