Jake Paul claimed he was a “crazy motherf*cker” when hinting at a future showdown against Mike Perry in a bare-knuckle fight. “The King of Violence” isn’t buying it.
Just after their boxing match on July 20 was announced, Paul touted his interest in potentially facing Perry in either MMA or a bare-knuckle fight just to prove he could beat the 32-year-old veteran anywhere and everywhere.
“I want to do an MMA fight and I think Perry is actually a good opponent for MMA and maybe bare-knuckle,” Paul said on The MMA Hour in June. “I haven’t thought about it but I’m down.”
While Perry didn’t hesitate to sign up for a boxing match with Paul after Mike Tyson suffered health problems that forced him to delay his own Paul matchup until November, the former UFC fighter-turned-BKFC superstar scoffs at the idea that Paul would actually consider taking off the gloves to fight him with bare knuckles.
“One thing I want to remind Jake over and over again is that he wouldn’t do a bare-knuckle fight,” Perry told MMA Fighting. “Whether he says he would or not, especially after this fight in 10-ounce gloves. He wants to bring it up like ‘boxing is this incredible sport and these hooligans are out there doing this bare-knuckle stuff’ and blah, blah, blah.
“I’m going to beat him with 10-ounce gloves on. He definitely won’t want to do bare-knuckle after that.”
There’s little doubt that Paul would be at a disadvantage going into a bare-knuckle fight against somebody as experienced as Perry, who sports a perfect 5-0 record in BKFC including wins over ex-UFC champs Luke Rockhold and Eddie Alvarez.
An argument could be made that Perry faces a similar uphill battle against Paul in the boxing ring by giving up a lot of size, weight, and experience to the social influencer, who holds a 9-1 record in his professional career.
Perry doesn’t see it that way, but has no problem playing the underdog until fight night.
“I have accolades that the rest of his competitors did not,” Perry explained. “I’m 6-0 in the last couple years. I fought a pro boxer, who had a really good record and a lot of experience in the ring and that was seven two-minute rounds.
“I’ve sparred Jake before for free. He tried to pay me but I told him I didn’t want it. I didn’t want that money back then. I was trying to get more work and more experience but that was back when I was still in the UFC. I’ve just been working towards this and it’s a great opportunity for me and my professional boxing record.”
In the lead-up to the fight, Paul has often predicted that he expects to finish Perry with a vicious knockout, which is exactly how he dispatched his past two opponents in the boxing ring.
Perry pointed out that while Paul may have beat up a pair of journeymen fighters who offered little resistance, it was just three fights ago that Paul went 10 rounds with UFC veteran Nate Diaz. On that night, Paul did score a knockdown on Diaz, but he couldn’t get the finish before ultimately settling for a unanimous decision win.
“He wasn’t able to finish Nate Diaz in a 10-round boxing match,” Perry said. “I know Nate is very durable and I would have to say I am just as, if not more durable than a Nate Diaz is. Nate’s a smart guy. He fought the fight in a slower type of pace. I don’t plan on doing that. I plan on bringing the pain to Jake.
“I’m going to put a pressure style on him, a Mike Tyson brawler style boxing is what I bring to the table. I’m putting pressure. I’m getting inside. I’m slipping side to side and I’m ripping straights and hooks and jabs and body shots. I want to work that body. I want to break his sides down. I want to make him tired of dealing with me and just stop putting that pressure on him, no matter what he does.”
For all the talking and predictions that Paul has unleashed since the fight was announced, Perry remains adamant in his thoughts about how the matchup will play out.
Paul may start strong, but Perry promises he will be the one finishing the fight late.
“I said seventh-round knockout, TKO, if you will,” Perry said. “I’m looking to make Jake take a knee. Fall down, hit him hard, he’s not going to stand still to let me land the best shot I can land. I have to time it. I have set it up. I have to put the pressure on him. I have to wear on him and break him down over time. I’ve got to hit that body, find those lumps on the side of his head and eventually I think by the seventh round if not the eighth, I’d like to finish him in the last round, too.
“I’ve got to stop him. I’ve got to put the pressure, overwhelm him and just give the ref no other choice but to step in and stop me from punching on him.”
