One of the rising stars of British boxing has hit out at Jake Paul seemingly being gifted a place on big pay-per-view shows.
Decorated amateur John Hedges fought 44 times, winning four national titles and seven international gold medals, before turning professional at the age of 17. In doing so, he became the youngest ever boxer to be signed up by Matchroom chief Eddie Hearn.
In February, the super-middleweight fighter went 5-0 at pro-level with a fourth round stoppage over Aleksander Nagolski at London’s O2 Arena. On May 21, he'll return to the same venue when he clashes with Jozef Jurko on the undercard of the Joshua Buatsi v Craig Richards fight, as he works towards his ultimate goal of becoming world champion.
Few can argue that 'The Gentleman', who is trained by Mark Tibbs and is currently sparring with Billy Joe-Saunders, hasn't earned his place in the full-time ranks. Signing with Hearn even meant forgoing his dream of fighting in the Olympic games, a notion that would have meant him putting his career on hold in 2020 with amateurs barred from sparring during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Small wonder then, that the ascent of Paul, who fought fellow YouTuber Deji Olatunji in his sole amateur fight before being able to turn pro, irks him. In fact, he thinks the career of 'The Problem Child' sends a dangerous message within the sport.
"The worst thing about it is we’ve [young boxers] come up from the amateur ranks, we’ve done the small shows, we’ve pushed through and had to dig in, take silly fights, lose money, pay for opponents - we’ve had to do things the hard way just to get a deal in the first place, never mind the big shows," he told the Mirror .
"And then when you get someone whose not famous for their talent but famous for their YouTubing, it’s like, what is the way to the top? Do you just have to be a name?"
Hedges, 18, respects what Paul has done in his role as an 'influencer', but was also scathing about the American's own 5-0 record, which has included three wins over former UFC fighters, an ex-basketball star, and another internet personality: " Jake Paul had a cracking YouTube career and hats off to him for what he’s done," he said.
"He has talent in that business and he smashed it. But in boxing terms he hasn’t even boxed anyone with a win, let alone had a competitive fight. I get that he’s boxed an ex-UFC champion [Tyron Woodley] but it’s like saying to a footballer go and take on a rugby player in rugby. It’s not their sport, it’s not their genre.
"So that’s the thing that’s hardest because there are boys out there, not just me, who are trying to put the graft in with a lot of distractions and are training hard, then you got someone like that who comes along, puts the call-outs out, and then gets along because of his name."
Hedges added that the likes of Paul can serve to dishearten aspiring young fighters: "He’s basically saying to the young generation ‘don’t bother about training hard because I’ve done nothing in 20 years and can come straight in on a big platform and take over’."
The Essex-based prodigy however, will concede one argument in favour of Paul's presence in boxing. In a roundabout way, he offers hope to young boxers who may be worried they've missed the boat: "Normal saying was if you’re not into boxing by 18 you’re too late. But now youngsters are seeing him, having not been in the sport two minutes, and getting the chance to fight on big PPV shows."
