Jake Paul taking on Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in a boxing bout later on this year is seen as a bit of a nadir for the sweet science, with a former multi-division UFC title challenger likening it to something that is not a good moment for the sport.
Chael Sonnen spoke about this on his YouTube channel recently, and when touching upon how he sees this Netflix broadcasted fight in November playing out at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Sonnen said,
“Jake’s going to beat Tank badly. And I’m only sharing for you: we’re not holding this event for rankings or for titles or for lineage. This is a night of business. And I’m going to predict for you now: we’ll know as soon as this video comes out. I would be happy to be wrong. But as far as picking a business partner, when you choose a dum dum, don’t be surprised when he goes out and acts like a dum dum.”
“There was a time where they didn’t even weigh him in, ’cause it literally wasn’t taken into consideration. But I’m just sharing with you, eventually Conor and Floyd fought and everybody goes, ‘Oh crap, this sport that we truly believed in turned out to not be as real as we hoped. Having better boxing than a guy doesn’t necessarily mean you can beat that guy up. In fact, if you conform the rules and make it just boxing rules, being a better boxer than this guy doesn’t even mean you could beat the guy up under those rules.’ And it was a wildly disappointing moment for boxing.
Jake Paul claims ‘tank’ is taking a bigger risk here than Floyd Mayweather did fighting Conor mcGregor
Jake Paul touts what Gervonta Davis is attempting this Fall as something more impressive than what Floyd Mayweather did leading into his blockbuster boxing bout with Conor McGregor years ago. Davis normally plies his trade at 135 pounds, but the WBA lightweight titleholder will step into this exhibition bout against someone who normally fights at cruiserweight and has even competed at heavyweight.
In discussing his thoughts on this Q4 of 2025 fight he has looming during an interview with Boxing Scene, Jake Paul stated [via KO on SI],
“They’re all going to watch it. And you know what I say to people is, if you don’t like something, don’t talk about it, because you’re just making it bigger. But at the end of the day, people are always going to have something to say about every single one of my fights.”
“His is a bigger risk for Gervonta than it was for, you know, Floyd [Mayweather] and Conor [McGregor] in that matchup [in 2017]. Conor wasn’t a boxer. Conor didn’t have a weight advantage.”
“So Gervonta is taking a bigger risk than Floyd, in my opinion, and it’s credit to him because of that weight difference. And that’s what makes this a good, even fight, is his skill and experience being top 10 pound-for-pound, and then my weight and height advantage.”
