29 days ago
Wales Online
Jake Paul will face Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia in what will be his first fight against a professional boxer.
The pair will face off in the Diriyah Arena in front of 15,000 people on Sunday, February 26. The main event will start at around 9.30pm UK time.
It has been a long time coming, with more than two years of hype building up to this moment. After two cancellations, we will finally get to see these huge personalities face off in the ring, put all the trash talk aside and let their ability do the talking.
Tommy has a lot weighing on his shoulders; the boxing community will never forgive him if he loses to Paul, who is perceived as amateurish and an unwelcome guest to the sport by many fans. Heavyweight champion brother Tyson has also said he will retire Tommy himself if he loses.
Twenty-six-year-old Paul doesn't have as much to lose. He's currently undefeated and has walked into the sport with no prior experience, picked up bigger paydays than most boxers, and become the absolute and undeniable epicentre of influencer boxing. All that talk will no doubt be weighing on him, though.
But just how did Paul become one of the most in-demand and wealthy personalities on the planet? From Disney Channel to Vine fame, we take a look at "The Problem Child's" glittering career so far.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Jake Paul has made $30million (£25m) in his lifetime, which is considerably more than his boxing counterpart Fury, who has raked in just over £1m. For the big fight, Paul's net worth will be boosted after he receives a guaranteed payday of over $8.6m (£7m). It will be his biggest pay out from a fight, and to contrast this, his first pay day was $690,000 (£573,000).
Famous brother
Jake is the younger brother of YouTube superstar Logan Paul, who is one of the most famous people on the planet at the moment. Logan and British YouTuber KSI put their own boxing beef aside to form Prime Energy, a drink which has a titan grip on the youth of today, with the beverage selling out almost immediately, everywhere.
Having a very famous sibling can certainly help - just ask KSI's brother Deji Olatunji. But in fairness to Jake, he has created an iconic attention-seeking persona that has rewarded him with incredible fame. But before we go into that, let's go back to his roots.
(Image: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Social media, Disney and YouTube
Logan and Jake Paul both gained a massive following on the Vine video app, which no longer exists. It was a very popular social media platform that had a six-second time limit on videos, so encouraged quirky and creative content from its users. Jake had more than five million followers and two billion loops on his videos before the app was discontinued.
His newfound fame earned him an acting role on the Disney Channel as the character Dirk Mann on Bizaardvark. He was the first social media star to be on the main cast of the show. He mutually agreed to leave the role in 2017.
Paul's fame was then booted into the stratosphere when he started YouTube and released the "It's Everyday Bro" song, which has just under 300 million views at the time of writing. It became one of the most disliked YouTube videos ever.
He has one of the biggest individual creator YouTube channels on the entire platform. He has more than 20 million subscribers and seven billionviews. Brother Logan has a few more at 23 million.
YouTube boxing
British YouTubers Joe Weller and Theo Baker ignited the entire world of YouTube boxing when the best friends had a fight in a Brighton gym. In very simplified terms, and to brush over all the beef, this subsequently led to KSI v Joe Weller, then to KSI v Logan Paul, before Jake got involved and stole the show.
Paul is without doubt the most in-demand YouTube boxer right now. KSI v Jake Paul is widely referred to as the ultimate bout in this subgenre of boxing, but Paul needs to get past Fury first, and put another firm stamp on his undefeated record.
So far Paul has fought AnEson Gib, Nate Robinson, Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice) and most recently former UFC champ Anderson Silva. Despite Askren, Woodley and Silva being former mixed martial artists, Fury will be Paul's first actual professional boxer opponent.
Paul is very good at selling fights, thanks to the in-your-face persona he has built up from his early YouTube days and he is used to get what he wants.
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