JAKE PAUL’s dominant victory over Ben Askren on Saturday night supposedly raked in £54million through pay-per-view buys alone.
And the YouTuber’s one-round demolition of Askren has also catapulted him into the all-time top ten of PPV buys for a boxing match.
Purists have bemoaned the ever-growing noise surrounding Paul’s foray into the sport.
But they can’t argue that he at least draws eyeballs.
His easy KO of grapple-heavy former MMA fighter Askren drew in 1.5million buys.
This kind of number puts Paul, 24, in elite company.
His Saturday night victory pulled in the same number of buys as Floyd Mayweather’s 2012 bout with Puerto Rico’s Miguel Cotto.
In fact, only fights featuring Mike Tyson or Mayweather have EVER managed to secure more PPV buys than Saturday night’s at-times maligned match-up.
And No2 on the list also featured a crossover from a former MMA champion, when Conor McGregor’s 2017 bout with Mayweather reeled in 4.3million buys.
At No1, with 4.6million sales, was Mayweather’s long-awaited clash with Manny Pacquiao in 2015.
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As Paul chases boxing legitimacy, as well as more millions in the bank account, eyes have turned to what could be next for the Problem Child.
He revealed before Saturday night that he feels that he is on a collision course with Conor McGregor.
But with the Notorious aiming to get his UFC career back on track against Dustin Poirier on July 10, Tommy Fury has emerged as a serious contender.
WBC heavyweight champ Tyson’s little brother, 21, called Paul out in the wake of his victory over Askren.
And Paul has stoked the flames further, by bringing Tommy’s girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague into it.
The American claimed: “Tommy is weak… and Tommy’s girlfriend [Molly-Mae Hague] DM’d me before they went on that reality show.”
He has form for taunting his rivals by mentioning their other halves after he made derogatory remarks about McGregor’s partner Dee Devlin.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
