Jake Paul hyping fight vs. Chavez but other bouts also on mind
First up is June 28 PPV event, but also talking about reviving exhibition against Gervonta Davis and challenging for 'Zurdo' Ramirez's belts
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
For Jake Paul’s next fight he hoped it would be a blockbuster against Canelo Alvarez. The deal was all but done when Alvarez left him at the altar at the last minute to accept a four-fight deal from Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh.
So Paul turned his attention to an exhibition with the much smaller Gervonta “Tank” Davis, the WBA lightweight titleholder. But when Davis fought to a very controversial draw with Lamont Roach on March 1 that vanished as Davis opted to invoke his contractual right to an immediate rematch, which is penciled in for Aug. 16.
Then it was on to Plan C: long-in-the-tooth former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who Paul will meet in a 10-round cruiserweight bout on June 28 (DAZN PPV) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Paul (11-1, 7 KOs), 28, of Puerto Rico, is coming off a one-sided eight-round decision over the ancient Mike Tyson, who had been retired for nearly 20 years, in a November heavyweight mega event. But Paul has mainly faced MMA fighters crossing over to boxing. So at least in Chavez (54-6-1, 34 KOs) — as old (39), faded (4-4 in his last eight) and inactive as he has been (one fight since 2021) — Paul is at least facing somebody with vast boxing experience compared to him and who is not yet close to qualifying to collect Social Security like Tyson.
When they came face to face at the recent kickoff news conference, Paul made the case that at least he was taking on another experienced boxer, even though most wrote off Chavez as a serious fighter years ago. Paul also talked about still looking to put on an event against Davis later in the year and even an eventual title shot against unified cruiserweight titlist Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez, who defends in the co-feature.