Jake Paul has slammed his YouTube boxing rival as "unprofessional" in an heated rant as talks between the pair's sides hit a snag in recent months.
The pair have gone head-to-head in multiple settings before, but have never been able to pen a deal to fight after the Brit defeated his rival's older brother Logan in 2019. Over the past year, KSI has been on a comeback trail in boxing, landing three knockouts in his three return bouts with a major step-up expected this weekend against 9-0 professional boxer Joe Fournier.
Despite fans clamouring for KSI and Paul to step in the ring together, as well as the Brit pushing hard for the bout publicly, contract talks have completely slowed with both men now scheduled for future bouts. KSI faces Fournier this Saturday while Paul will take on Nate Diaz on August 5 in Dallas, both on DAZN pay-per-view.
And speaking with Mirror Fighting ahead of his first press conference with Diaz today, Paul detailed the situation with KSI, saying that his disinterest comes from a lack of professionalism on his rival's side. "It's more so the games that they play," he explained. "They're not professional businessmen.
"They're running their whole WWE-like Misfits thing with fake tag team boxing, they're more interested in spectacles and bulls*** than getting a fight done and actually doing proper business or knowing how to negotiate. This guy Mams Taylor [KSI's manager] is going around wearing cowboy hats looking like a f***ing idiot.
"He thinks he's an influencer all of a sudden, he's not a proper businessman. So that's really what it is, and I truly, truly have bigger goals than fighting KSI. I think Tommy was a bigger fight than KSI, I think Nate is a bigger fight than KSI, he's kind of lost steam - he's 30-years-old [KSI is 29, turning 30 next month] and the gig is kind of up."
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Paul and KSI's feud started over five years ago when the Brit called he and his brother out for what was at the time a white collar bout. The younger Paul ended up facing his rival's brother Deji while Logan took on the elder sibling in a massive show that drew 1.2million PPV buyers.
However, the American now feels that the heat is gone from the feud, adding: "He's big in the UK but really in the US there's no notoriety at all. He doesn't have any credibility so the influencer world would like the fight for sure and I want to make it happen, I would love knocking him out.
"But at the end of the day, there's way bigger opportunities out there, there's huge discussions going on behind the scenes in my life of way bigger, more legitimate fighters. If he's not going to do professional business I'm just going to sweep him under the rug because he needs me for his legacy, I don't need him at all. You've seen him say that I'm his end goal and KSI, thank you bro. I think it's so sweet that I'm your dream."
