Tension was high and tempers flared during a testy news conference Thursday between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley ahead of their pay-per-view fight slated to take place Sunday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Showtime.
Here’s what the principals had to say ahead of their cruiserweight clash:
Jake Paul arrives at the Teen Choice Awards at the Galen Center on Aug. 13, 2017, in Los Angeles.
(Jordan Strauss / Invision via AP)
Jake Paul:
“When I started boxing, I didn’t think I’d be here this fast. My original goal was to fight Conor McGregor or Floyd Mayweather, because I knew I would have a big enough pay-per-view draw to do those things. Now I want to become world champion. I want to fight and beat Canelo Alvarez. This has been a fast, quick roller coaster ride, but I didn’t expect to be here. I just knew I loved fighting and I knew I was good at it.
“This is an exciting time. I’m bringing it home for Cleveland. We knew that when we teamed up with Showtime, that this would be a huge event. This is turning into a historic moment.
“Tyron Woodley is ‘The Chosen One,’ we chose him to get his ass beat. None of his accomplishments matter on Sunday night. I’m sending him into retirement and turning him into a meme. People are going to see all of my skills. People are going to be surprised. I haven’t shown anything yet. I might come out southpaw. This is my coming out party.
“It’s going to be another show on Sunday. I’m putting on another masterful performance and a boxing clinic. This guy is going to sleep and getting turned into another meme. Just like his friend Ben Askren. After Sunday, nobody is ever going to talk about Woodley ever again. He’s a speed bump on the road of my career.
“There’s no other fighter that’s 3-0 and taking fights against champions. I want challenges and I want to push myself. I was much more motivated in training camp because I know this is a dangerous opponent. I expect him to come out sharp and I expect this to be a fun one.
“I’m polarizing, I get it. I don’t care what people think. Most people aren’t like that. They’re scared to rub people the wrong way. Some people want to see me lose, but I’m here to stay.
“A fight against Tommy Fury makes sense. That’s a huge fight. It seems to be right in the palm of both of our hands. We do have to go out and perform on Sunday. I want to see how the U.S. crowd receives him. I want to see if he has that star power this whole entire week. He doesn’t have the big pay-per-view numbers that Tyron Woodley has, or even a Ben Askren. Those guys sold tons of pay-per-views. No one has seen a Tommy Fury fight.
“There’s no real respect between us. I’m going to show that winning a UFC championship doesn’t mean anything in the world of boxing.”
Tyron Woodley
“I’m almost falling asleep over here listening to this guy. It’s disgusting how much of a clown people have to be to be recognized. He’s got the appearance of being about that action down, but I’m really like that.
“This is the fight game. You can say what you want to say and you can do what you think fighters do. Jake does all the things to build the fight, but we’re really here now. He’s getting hurt on Sunday.
“All the people around him have lied to him. They don’t want to lose their bag. They’re not pushing him. You can come out with that dumb robot, it doesn’t matter. You’re getting knocked out.
“I’m just really ready to fight. I don’t have any shenanigans or B.S. I should bring him some wipes to clean himself up when I knock him out on Sunday.
“He hasn’t shown me anything yet. Real recognize real. I don’t worry about what anyone on the outside is saying. I’m worried about bringing that action.
“I’m going crazy on Sunday. At the end of the day, it’s been a long time coming. I’m thankful for my team that’s supported me but I’m also thankful for everyone who counted me out. When everyone comes against you, it shows how powerful what you’re about to do is.
“I think in general with combat sports, one person does something and people want to replicate it. This is a real fight though. If you look at the way we’re built, this is a real fight. Some people took this lightly and that’s why they came up short against him. We’ve been training since before this fight was even signed.
“All camps have highs and lows. You have to fight through adversity. With me mentally, it was a lot easier when we were having fun. It was passionate and you had people watching your every move and monitoring your every step. I’m just very grateful to all my coaches. To me, this is just a lot of fun. I haven’t had fun in a long time, to be real. I loved this training camp. It was one of my most fun ever.”
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