Jake Paul believes that Katie Taylor is totally deserving of her superstar status, however, the YouTube star turned professional boxer and promoter says that the Olympic champion should stick to her own gameplan if she harbours any ambitions of beating Amanda Serrano.
Taylor puts her undisputed lightweight world titles on the line in New York City later this month as she takes on Puerto Rican New Yorker Serrano, who is a seven-weight world champion, in what is being billed as the biggest ever fight in women's boxing.
Jake Paul is co-promoting the fight alongside Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Promotions, and he is also representing Serrano having signed her to his Most Valuable Promotions company.
Paul believes that Serrano is in the shape, and form, of her life coming into the highly-anticipated fight with Taylor, claiming that we will see the best-ever version of Serrano for the New York encounter.
An unlikely alliance perhaps, yet Paul said that his two-year relationship with the veteran fighter has been mutually beneficial, and he sees her as a sister who has helped him to negotiate his way through the oft-murky waters of professional boxing.
"It was the stars aligning," said Paul, speaking to RTÉ Sport, ahead of the Madison Square Garden event.
"Amanda was on the same card as me for my first professional fight in 2020 and since then she has always been a name that we wanted to have on our undercards.
"I really wanted to help push women’s boxing forward, and when Nakisa [Bidarian] and I started Most Valuable Promotions we thought of Amanda as a great first person to sign because of how well we got on with her and how big of a star she is.
"She just needed a spotlight to be put on to her as she is one of the greatest fighters ever.
"And ever since that we have been able to secure this massive fight with Katie Taylor for her, and I guess I look as Amanda as a sister, and we have both helped each other over the past couple of years grow in the sport and we are there to push each other, which is awesome."
Paul said that he has seen Serrano sparring in camp and feels that she is going to bring a relentless approach to the fight with Katie Taylor, taking heart and inspiration from Delphine Persoon’s approach to fighting the London 2012 gold medallist.
And while Paul admits to showing an obvious, yet understandable, bias towards his own fighter, he backed up his belief by outlining how he sees the fight unfolding under the lights at the iconic New York arena.
"Amanda is looking great in camp, she’s been out in Puerto Rico; I got to see a bit of her sparring, and she is looking as electric as ever.
"This fight continues to get bigger and continues to get me more excited.
"I’m a little bit biased, but I take a look at Katie Taylor versus Delphine Persoon, and how Persoon had that relentless pressure coming forward, and it was a lot for Katie Taylor.
"I think it put a lot of miles on Taylor’s boxing odometer, and the difference between Persoon and Serrano is that Amanda goes to the body a lot more, while Persoon was headhunting, and it gave Katie a lot of trouble and arguably some of those rounds should have gone the opposite way.
"So I think what we are going to see is a very similar match-up stylistically, except I think Amanda is going to be able to slow Katie down a little bit more.
"Obviously, Katie is going to try to stay on the outside, stick and move and use her speed to keep Amanda off her, but I don’t think she will be able to do that the whole entire fight, and I think the early rounds will go to Katie, but I think Amanda is going to come on in the latter half of the fight."
Paul was, however, full of praise for the Irish boxing legend, calling Taylor a true superstar of the sport, while lauding her amateur upbringing, which showcases her true boxing ability and speed of thought and movement around the ring.
Yet Paul offered his advice to the five-time world champion, suggesting that she sticks to her own game-plan, as it would prove dangerous, and perhaps disastrous, should she try to beat Serrano at her own power game.
"I think Katie is awesome, and just meeting her, she is just a nice person, and you would never think of her to be this vicious fighter, and what she has been able to accomplish and how she has been able to push women’s boxing forward, I commend her so much," said Paul.
"She is a superstar. And that is why this fight is so exciting. I only have good things to say about Katie Taylor and I respect everything she has done in her career.
"The best thing that Katie Taylor can do is fight her own fight and stick to her gameplan and not get sucked into Amanda’s gameplan, and the same goes for Amanda, not to get sucked into Katie’s boxing.
"She’s a true boxer, on the outside, moving around, and that comes from her amateur pedigree, so they both are going to have to find that place of controlling the fight and controlling what is going on and I think whoever does that first is going to be the winner of the fight."
Taylor has already outboxed, outsmarted and outclassed another member of the Serrano boxing clan, beating Amanda’s older sister, and one-time featherweight world champion, Cindy back in 2018.
And while Paul admits that Cindy fell into the trap of trying to box a true boxer, he dismissed the notion that history might repeat itself, referring to his own brother, Logan Paul’s much hyped grudge fight with fellow YouTuber KSI.
"They are two different animals, and I think we are catching Amanda Serrano in her prime, quite literally, this fight will be the best Amanda Serrano that we will ever get in her whole entire career.
"With Amanda’s sister, she got sucked into Katie’s gameplan and it is a good learning lesson, but just because the sister loses, it does not mean that Amanda is going to lose.
"It’s the same with Logan v KSI, right? KSI beat Logan, but if I were to fight KSI, it would be murder."
Speaking of his own burgeoning boxing career, Jake Paul said that he was planning a return to the ring in August, and while he admitted that conversations with opponents were currently taking place, there was one fighter that he would love to go toe-to-toe with.
"I want to fight Conor McGregor," said Paul. "But I think he is scared.
"He fought in the UFC multiple times at 170 pounds, and I can cut to 175lbs so we can make that happen. We are roughly the same size.
"That’s an easy fight for me. As crazy as that sounds, it’s true, so let’s get it on, it’s a big money fight, I think the Irish people would love to see it, and as long as Daddy Dana [White] can let him out of his contract, let’s get it done.
"Because that is probably one of the biggest fights you can make in combat sports right now. That fight does easily two-three millions pay per view buys."
Paul has had five professional fights, starting with a much-hyped battle with YouTuber AnEsonBig, before taking on former NBA basketball star Nate Robinson. He then fought and beat MMA fighter Ben Askren, while also beating former UFC champion Tyron Woodley, twice, securing a stunning knock-out win in the rematch last December.
Paul sees himself as a professional boxer now, has been trained by former world champion Shane Mosley, and has regular contact with current stars like Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney and David Benavidez.
Yet Paul appears content to make the crossover, if needs be, to take on McGregor at his own game in the MMA cage.
"I’ll fight him anywhere," said Paul. "He is on such a decline and he has no motivation to train anymore.
"I don’t know why he still even wants to fight, but I would make light work of him, whether it was in MMA, or boxing, or in a street fight, or whatever.
"I’d beat him in basketball, football, soccer, I would beat Conor McGregor at anything in life."
