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Fame and celebrity
Martial ArtsMixed Martial Arts
Patrick Blennerhassett
Patrick Blennerhassett

Opinion | Jake Paul faces Tyron Woodley as social media star and celebrity court jester looks to continue boxing shtick

  • The 23-year-old has done a fabulous job at making himself famous for doing little other than annoying people in the fight game
  • Now Paul faces Woodley, a formidable foe, who could knock him out and seriously dent the social media star’s lust for fame at all costs

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Jake Paul takes on Tyrone Woodley this Sunday in the social media star’s biggest challenge yet. Photo: USA Today
Patrick Blennerhassett

Sometime during the pandemic Jake Paul went and pulled a fast one on all of us and became famous.

The pompous, braggadocious internet celebrity, who rose to fame posting six-second clips of himself on the now defunct social media platform Vine, suddenly became the talk of the boxing world this year. His court jester mastery meant he was able to insert himself into narratives by being the “hate to love, and love to hate” brat he is, and we all gorged on it like pigs at a trough.

Stealing Floyd Mayweather’s hat, trash-talking with Daniel Cormier ringside, or getting Ben Askren to magically appear like an actual foe before dummying him in the first round, Paul typifies what it means to be famous for nothing in the 21st century. He’s done little, but everyone can’t stop talking about him.
Paul has elevated himself above the noise of social media influencers, poked his head out into the actual fight game arena and even got UFC president Dana White to tip his hat to him. The problem is, the line-up of fighters who want to square-off against Paul is growing longer and more robust by the day, and the masses will quickly tire of his shtick because getting in the ring and getting gloriously knocked out is how most everyone wants this tragicomedy to end.

Enter former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, whom he faces on Sunday in Cleveland. Paul knew he had to step up his game after he made former UFC fighter Ben Askren look silly, but Askren laughing it off did little for Paul’s actual boxing credentials. Now with Woodley he faces another old, washed up mixed martial artist, but let’s make one thing clear: this is going to be the fight of Paul’s life.

Woodley, 39, was not just in the UFC like Askren, he was the welterweight champion and defended his belt four times. Like Askren, he is a former NCAA wrestler. But unlike Askren, he learned how to strike somewhere along the line. Paul likely chose Woodley because he was known for his ground game, and was never for having lethal punch power. Boxing a wrestler seems to be to Paul’s liking.

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