Eddie Hearn jokingly takes responsibility for Jake Paul's boxing career - "I started this mess!"
Jake Paul is about as controversial a figure as it gets, and Eddie Hearn has owned up to starting his career in the ring.
The head of Matchroom Boxing recently featured on to The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani to discuss a variety of topics. Given that Hearn had just come off a day of press with Paul to promote the upcoming Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano bout, 'The Problem Child' naturally came up.
Hearn reminded fans that he's the first man to ever promote Jake Paul. He promoted 'The Problem Child's' bout against AnEsonGib in January 2020.
As a result, Hearn jokingly owned up to starting Paul's boxing career, and stated that he liked the "plunker." Hearn said:
“I promoted his first fight two years ago. I started this mess. I put him in against a YouTuber, and the best way I can describe Jake is, people say to me, ‘Do you like Jake Paul?’ And I say Jake, the terminology is different in the U.K., plunker, grade-A plunker, dipstick. But I like him. I don’t mean that disrespectfully."
Hearn continued, stating that he believes Paul is good for the sport of boxing.
“I think fighters, because of what they’ve sacrificed, sometimes hold it against Jake Paul and say, ‘Well, I’ve been grinding in the gym for 15 years!’ Yeah, but you’re not good enough and you haven’t built the profile that he’s built. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to do that? He’s put in the work in the gym. He’s fallen in love with the sport, genuinely, and I think he’s good for boxing."
Watch Eddie Hearn's interview with Ariel Helwani below:
Jake Paul is likely to return to the ring in September
Jake Paul has been out of competition since his knockout of Tyron Woodley in December 2021. It seems that fans of 'The Problem Child' will have to wait a bit to see him in the ring again.
Paul recently revealed that he's expecting to be out of the ring until September at the earliest. The main reason behind the delay is that he's busy promoting the massive Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano bout going down April 30th.
Once the bout is out of the way, he expects to be back in training and looking for a fight. He has no shortage of possible opponents, as he's seemingly been called out by everyone in the MMA and boxing world.
However, the leading contenders to fight are former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Paul has expressed interest in fighting the former champions over the last few months.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr has confirmed he is now in negotiations with Jake Paul: "They offered me one to three million dollars, plus PPV. I have a name, I'm a former world champion, so I made it clear that it has to be a 50/50 split for me to take the fight." [@FightNews]
While Paul's return to the ring has yet to be confirmed, fans of 'The Problem Child' can expect details of his next bout to be confirmed in the weeks to come.