JUST days after rumours that Jake Paul would take on Anthony Joshua gained momentum, the YouTuber-turned-boxer is now set to face Gervonta Davis in a shocking turn of events.
Paul, 12-1 (7 KOs), has defeated back-to-back former world champions in Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and seemed poised to be taking on another, more active campaigner in two-time heavyweight conqueror, ‘AJ’.
However, The Ring’s Mike Coppinger has now broke the news that Paul will instead collide with reigning WBA lightweight champion, Gervonta Davis, 30-0-1 (28 KOs), after network issues caused the deal for Joshua-Paul to collapse.
Often deemed as a smaller sized 135lber, ‘Tank’ now faces an opponent who weighed in at over 227lbs when facing Tyson last year and regularly fights in the cruiserweight (200lb) division.
Although the proposal sounds, and is, dangerous on paper, the fact that it is an exhibition should provide some solace to boxing fans, who will recall when Floyd Mayweather boxed Jake Paul’s brother, Logan Paul, in a bout with similar size differentials.
The event is scheduled to take place in Atlanta at the State Farm Arena on Saturday, November 15, with the eyebrow-raising main-event likely to go ahead with strict rules and large gloves.
In terms of the professional impact of the announcement, reigning WBA super-featherweight world champion Lamont Roach Jr, 25-1-2 (10 KOs), had been expected to rematch Davis, after a controversial draw with the Baltimore-born bruiser in March.
Now, it remains to be seen whether Roach will stick around at lightweight or return to defend his WBA super-featherweight title.
