The business partner of Jake Paul, Nakisa Badarian, is nothing if not loyal to his fellow co-founder of MVP.
Paul was last seen in a boxing ring in December, lasting into the sixth round against Anthony Joshua before the former two-time heavyweight titlist landed the decisive blows to both break Paul’s jaw and knock him out.
At the time of the stoppage, Paul was down seven points after five rounds on all three official scorecards, highlighting the dominance of his vastly more experienced foe.
Yet Badarian, in a typical blast of hyperbole, has declared that Paul was faring better against Joshua than Kristian Prenga managed at the weekend.
Though Prenga only lasted until the second round, he dropped Joshua twice in the opening session and would in fact have been leading when the contest ended. Paul may have landed the odd shot seven months ago but at no point whatsoever did it appear he had even a sniff of winning the contest.
“Jake Paul won more than the guy [Prenga] on Saturday night won,” Bidarian told Sky Sports. “He was in there for six rounds. That dude was out in two rounds, taking the same shots Jake was taking.
“I’m very happy with his performance [against Joshua], not happy with the outcome, and didn’t like that he broke his jaw, but the hardest shots on Jake Paul didn’t do what they did to a heavyweight on Saturday.”
Paul is “100 per cent boxing again” and the hit-list of potential opponents highlights what an anomaly he remains in the sport.
Though Tommy Fury, who outpointed Paul in 2023, would match two human beings who are roughly the same size, the likes of Ryan Garcia, Chris Eubank Jnr and Edgar Berlanga – a welterweight, middleweight, and super middleweight respectively – being mentioned only adds credence to opinion that Paul, though brave, is little more than a novelty act.
Novelty or not, however, it seems those in line to face him certainly recognize Paul’s value.
“Jake wants to fight [Francis] Ngannou, Ryan Garcia, but Tommy Fury is a fight that makes sense. Edgar Berlanga, that’s a fascinating fight. I also like Chris Eubank Jr, that’s a fascinating fight,” said Bidarian.
“The fighters on the other side also need to be realistic. Sometimes their eyes are bigger than what the box office affords us to pay.”
