Despite only competing professionally for five years, Jake Paul has drawn interest from his peers, with Ryan Garcia being the latest to observe the YouTuber’s progress.
While he has garnered much attention since his rise in the boxing ring, ‘The Problem Child’ has come under scrutiny for his approach. Throughout his 12-fight career, the 28-year-old has received backlash from fans and fellow boxers for favoring matchups against significantly older opponents.
Instead of pushing to fight somebody around his age, Jake Paul has once again favored a bout against an ageing opponent. Jake will collide with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr next—a man that is approaching 40 with just one fight under his belt since 2021.
In response to the fight news, Ryan Garcia hit out at Jake Paul for once again avoiding tougher challenges.
“I mean, he’s going to run out of opponents,” Garcia told USA Today Sports. “There’s only so many 40-year-old dudes out there in the world that have a name.”
Garcia later proposed a challenge, though he believes Jake would never agree to it.
“So, he’s going to have to come through me sooner or later. I know he doesn’t want to, though, because I’m going to be firing on him.”
“He knows I got those punches on me. So, I think that once he’s done fighting these old men and he is ready for a real fight, he could come see me.”
“If he could fight ‘Tank’ Davis, he could fight me. Davis is smaller than me. I’m the one that taught [Paul] boxing, so he has to see me.”
Related: Canelo Alvarez weighs in on Jake Paul vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr fight
Ryan Garcia insists that, until Jake Paul fights a ranked fighter in his weight class, he cannot be considered a legitimate boxer.
“He’s a wild card. I mean, I don’t know if he’s a boxer. At the end of the day, he’s never fought in a ranked match at his weight class…”
“I don’t know what his weight class is, so [I] can’t really say that he’s legitimate.”
Jake Paul has the chance to add another veteran to his resume when he locks horns with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on June 28.
