Ben Askren claims Jake Paul knows \u201che doesn\u2019t have a future in boxing\u201d Instagram, @benaskren, @jakepaulAhead of their highly anticipated bout, Ben Askren and Jake Paul have shared some\u2026 fighting words. During a pre-fight press conference, Askren explained that the YouTuber must not have faith in the longevity of his boxing career. On April 17, celebrity YouTuber Jake Paul will box decorated MMA (mixed martial arts) champion Ben Askren as the headline match for Triller Fight Club. Before the highly anticipated showdown, we took part in a press conference during which each fighter answered questions about themselves and their opponent. This bout presents a first for both competitors. Paul, despite downing YouTuber AnEsonGib and NBA retiree Nate Robinson, has never officially boxed a professional from combat sports. Askren, meanwhile, is making his boxing debut \u2014 over a year after retiring from fighting. At 36 years old, Askren is much more experienced than the 24-year-old Paul and has a career marked by Olympic wrestling gold medals and a 19-2 record in the UFC. Upon hearing that Paul was interested in wrestling the former gold medalist, he claimed that Jake\u2019s challenge simply proves that \u201che realizes he doesn\u2019t have a future in boxing.\u201d When asked if Askren would ever accept Paul\u2019s challenge to wrestle, Askren expressed utter confusion and shared his thought process. \u201cI cannot figure out \u2014 I always, always try to think of what is someone\u2019s angle on this \u2014 I can\u2019t figure out what his angle is. I don\u2019t know. If he wants to wrestle, we can wrestle.\u201d Simply befuddled by Paul\u2019s interest in wrestling, Askren continued to explain why the rationale is so perplexing: \u201cLet\u2019s put it this way, he wasn\u2019t even good at high school wrestling. The notion that I couldn\u2019t pin him in 20 seconds is hilarious. So I don\u2019t really know what his angle is yet there.\u201d Touching on Paul\u2019s inadequacies as a high school wrestler and his short career thus far as a boxer, Askren dissected the \u2018challenge\u2019 and explained that it reaffirms a belief he has been considering: \u201cThe one thing it does make me think is, which I\u2019ve kind of always thought and this would be further proof, is that he realizes he doesn\u2019t have a future in boxing.\u201d If Paul beats Askren, he will have defeated a YouTuber; a 36-year-old, 5\u20199\u201d basketball player; and a 36-year-old, 5\u201910\u201d MMA retiree coming off of a hip surgery. At 6\u20191\u201d and 24 years old, the younger Paul brother\u2019s commitment to the sport is directly questioned by Askren. To argue why expressing interest in wrestling a world-recognized wrestler suggests lack of faith in a boxing career, Askren offered some concluding logic: \u201cIf your goal was to be a great boxer, you\u2019re not going to take a couple nights off to wrestle somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ben Askren claims Jake Paul knows \u201che doesn\u2019t have a future in boxing\u201d Instagram, @benaskren, @jakepaulAhead of their highly anticipated bout, Ben Askren and Jake Paul have shared some\u2026 fighting words. During a pre-fight press conference, Askren explained that the YouTuber must not have faith in the longevity of his boxing career. On April 17, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}