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Promoter Eddie Hearn is backing Youtube star turned boxer, Jake Paul, to overcome former UFC champion Anderson Silva on October 29.
SIlva is Paul’s first opponent with actual pro boxing experience. Last year, Silva pulled off an upset when outboxed former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. to a decision win.
Paul had two opponents fall through for a planned ring return last month.
He was initially scheduled to fight undefeated light heavyweight prospect Tommy Fury, who is the younger brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
The fight fell out when Fury was unable to enter the United States.
He was later replaced by heavyweight prospect Hasim Rahim Jr. – the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman – but that fight also fell out when it was revealed that Rahman was unable to make the contracted weight limit.
“I don’t know enough about Anderson Silva but he can box a bit by the sound of things,” Hearn said to MMA Hour.
“To defeat Anderson Silva, while boxing is still a very impressive part of his repertoire, he’s still not a boxer, and he’s 47 years of age. But he’s a tough guy, he has a huge profile, he can box, and I think he’ll be competitive. I don’t think he beats Jake, because I think Jake is young, and I think he can punch a bit, and I’m intrigued to watch, and I like what Jake’s doing. It’s kind of him against the world.
“I just think that Jake’s been a bit unlucky, because he was trying to fight Tommy Fury, he was trying to fight Hasim Rahman Jr., and that would have actually given him the ability to say, ‘Actually, you have to respect me now as a boxer.”