Jake Paul isn’t open to any criticism of his upcoming match up versus Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Generally, “The Problem Child” has faced consistent critique for handpicking opposition that is smaller, older, and less experienced in boxing. The primary exception to his rule is Tommy Fury, and he’s responsible for Paul’s sole professional defeat! Chavez Jr, at least, is similarly sized to Paul and does have more experience as a former champion with 62 pro bouts on his record.
People are still hung up on his age, however. At 39 years old, Chavez Jr’s best years are behind him, and he hasn’t been a champion of any kind in over ten years. Paul hears this criticism and has formulated an interesting defense of the booking, comparing himself to Paddy Pimblett and Chavez Jr to Michael Chandler.
In case anybody forgot about UFC 314 already, “The Baddy” broke 38-year-old “Iron” into pieces, exploding his star in the process (watch it).
“Julio Cesar Chavez Jr is a former world champion, a cruiserweight world champion,” Paul begins in the promotional video above. “The same weight as me, the same size as me, and 20 years more pro boxing experience than me. For you inbreds, let’s get the excuses out of the way. Last week, Paddy Pimblett beat Michael Chandler, and the whole world lost their minds, but not a single person mentioned Michael Chandler’s age! That’s because he’s still within his prime age, the same age as Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. People didn’t have a problem with Paddy, why do they have a problem with me? So when I beat him, don’t even try to cry about his age.”
The funniest part of the video is when Paul says “the same age” while a graphic displays Chavez Jr is literally a year older than Chandler. The next bit of hilarity is the idea that people weren’t talking about Michael Chandler’s age? Everybody knew ahead of time that Chandler is roughly a decade out of his prime, the question was whether Pimblett could take advantage.
Paul is right about one thing: people went wild for Pimblett when he smashed Chandler. While plenty of people will roll their eyes, an even greater number will cheer if Paul knocks out the former WBC Middleweight champion.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
