America has had a love/hate, admire/despise relationship with Jake Paul, the internet star-turned-boxer and master of self-promotion who preys so artfully on our collective gullibility and willingness to buy almost anything.
I always surmised that feeling leaned rather heavily toward hate and despise, which seemed borne out Sunday in an arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It is always quite delicious when artifice is exposed. When we get to smile and say, “Shhh” to unearned arrogance.
Paul strode slowly toward the ring from his dressing room to the sound of mostly booing. His entourage included brother Logan, who held a case of Prime energy drinks against his right hip, name and logo out front. (Logan has a stake in that company. Or did that go without saying?)
After the eight rounds and a split decision, when the referee lifted Tommy Fury’s arm, the crowd burst into mostly vigorous cheering in celebration of Paul’s comeuppance.
Then came the postmatch ring interview.
Paul, 26, said he had no excuses, just before offering a parade off them.
He questioned the judges’ scoring, said, “Honestly, I felt flat,” adding, “I got sick really bad twice in camp, injured my arm...”
(Cannot confirm the arm injury happened from excessive patting of his own back.)
By this time the fight fans were drowning Paul and the interview in more booing.
Paul had been 6-0 in the ring prior to Sunday’s maiden loss — his biggest fight to date, his first against an actual boxer in his prime.
Prior to Fury, Paul had boxed against MMA fighters, a fellow YouTube star and a former NBA player. His most recent win in October was against retired MMA star Anderson Silva ... who was 47.
Yet despite the flimsy resume’ Your Friend The Media continued propping up Paul because we are forever looking for the next big thing. That’s why three days ago a headline on ESPN..com read, “Jake Paul a real boxing champion? It’s not as far-fetched as it might seem.”
Big egos need constant feeding, and the media has always been there.
That is why despite any proof of greatness Paul’s arrogance has been nonstop and audaciously unearned. The kind of attitude that makes you root against somebody. It’s hard to cheer for the underdog when the underdog is so full of himself it makes you cringe at the gall.
Sixty ears ago Cassius Clay-becoming-Muhammad Ali was as bodacious as all get out, declaring himself “The Greatest.”
Turned out, he was.
Today, Jake Paul is only the greatest because a combined 60 million followers — I mean idolaters on Instagram, Tik Tok and YouTube —tell him he is along with a compliant media. Apparently Paul bought all the adulation. Many of the rest of us did, too, even though he had proven nothing before he finally had a chance to Sunday and came up short.
A month ago Bomani Jones on his “Game Theory” show on HBO and HBO Max dared to ask Paul, “What happens if you lose?”
No athlete likes that question, but Paul got instantly combative.
“I feel like that’s probably you’re mind-set,” Paul said.
It quickly devolved to Paul telling Jones, “I don’t know who the [expletive] you are. My PR teams set up this interview.”
Jones replied, “Dude, all I know about you is that people don’t like you.”
Jones is in good company. In a previous derailed interview Paul also claimed to have never heard of Howard Stern.
This is all a apart of the master plan, the carefully constructed artifice. Controversy is good for the Jake Paul brand. When you nickname yourself “The Problem Child,” the image you are building is sort of out-there obvious. Google his name and find his history of controversies, legal issues and scam allegations take up more space than his boxing career.
Good for image and business, all of it.
Because there are millions of kids out there who want to be him. Not boxers, necessarily, but “internet celebrities” who teach the easily impressionable that there are shortcuts to fame and wealth in an age when success is measured by social media followers equating to wealth and fame.
(University of Miami women’s basketball has the Cavinder wins, Haley and Hanna, who became “internet personalities” via revealing, sexy videos and photos. UM just got socked with NCAA sanctions for Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) violations in the recruiting them.)
Paul and his ilk are modern-day Horatio Alger Jr. built for the times. The Tik Tok times.
Alger was an author in the 19th and early 20th centuries whose books inspired young readers to work hard, confront adversity and persevere. His message was achieving your dreams no matter your circumstances.
Paul and social media “influencers” like him make videos that show achieving instant fame and wealth does not always require the old-fashioned hard work part. They offer a dubious, crap-shoot of a map to short cuts.
Today the Horatio Algers are closer to P.T. Barnums. Self-promotion is king.
So the manufactured self-creation called Jake Paul finally lost. Now what?
Slip by degrees into ignominy as the spotlight dims and attention fades and followers drop him for the next shiny toy?
Maybe. But more likely the cunning self-promoter simply reinvents into a more likable brand: Humbled, striving to prove doubters wrong and earn respect ... it’s Jake Paul: Lovable Underdog!
Hey, it’s worth a shot.
