The trajectory of Jake Paul has been a strange one, and his iteration as a boxer continues with his third pro fight, against Ben Askren. Paul has been a YouTube celebrity, an Internet personality, a rapper, and an actor — and now he is a pro fighter. This time, he is actually tangling with a real fighter instead of a basketball player or another YouTube personality, when he meets Ben Askren, the retired MMA fighter. They will fight Saturday at Triller’s Fight Club, inside Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Check out the Boxing betting odds as well as our thoughts on the outcome.
Boxing News: Jake Paul vs Ben Askren Odds & Preview
Jake Paul (-190) / Ben Askren (+180) / Draw (+2000)
Paul’s first two fights have both gone his way — and he has not had to go past the second round in either fight. He beat AnEsonGib and Nate Robinson via knockout — but neither fighter had ever entered a boxing ring before they met Paul. Askren is a former champion, both in the ONE FC and the Bellator promotions, as part of a successful MMA career that spanned a dozen years, but even though he has taken on some of MMA’s top fighters, he has never boxed. Will Askren’s fighting experience help him out here, or will Paul come out of this 3-0? Paul comes in as a slight favorite.
One obvious point, of course, is that Ben Askren isn’t a boxer. He’s closer to being a boxer than were Nate Robinson or AnEsonGib, but he’s still an MMA fighter. So is Jake Paul a boxer? He certainly looks like one, but this fight will tell us more about whether Paul is a real fighter or just a guy who plays one on TV. He has certainly trained for the fight, but it remains to be seen whether he will actually box — or just come across like Russell Crowe did in his turn as James J. Braddock.
If you’re looking to take the value that Askren offers as a slight underdog, consider that Askren has been in real fights against real fighters and has gone under the pressure that this involves. AnEsonGib really did not belong in a boxing ring, and Robinson (a former NBA Slam-Dunk Contest champion) simply looked like he had wandered from a basketball court into a boxing ring.
Robinson looked like he was trying to run and swing his way through a cloud of angry bees, and the most impressive part of Paul’s response was that he didn’t let himself get rattled and instead looked for holes in Robinson’s defense so that he could deliver the knockout. Askren has plenty of mileage, and he has suffered some injuries in recent years, so Paul could find a similar hole and end this fight early as well. However, Askren has the experience and savvy to grind this one out and send things to the cards, keeping up just enough defense to gum up the entertainment value of the fight.
If you go back and look at the recent videos Askren has put out there, you have to want to stack up money on Paul’s side of the equation. But is this more of a 21st century rope-a-dope? It is hard to imagine Askren would release this sort of video if he actually looked that bad all the time. Askren should be able to bring more punishment than Paul’s first two opponents, thanks to his considerable amount of fighting experience.
Askren also has a surgically repaired hip — and when he was an MMA fighter, he would put up a concerted effort to get the fight to the ground. That is not an option in the boxing ring. Askren is giving up the edge in age and size — but his chin took all kinds of punishment against the likes of Robbie Lawler. Paul’s never taken that kind of punishment. Because of this disparity in experience, I’m going with the value — and with Askren..
Final Prediction:
Askren wins via decision
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