Dave Portnoy slammed Jake Paul for taking yet another “preposterous” fight after the YouTuber-turned-boxer came face-to-face with Gervonta “Tank” Davis for the first time ahead of their highly-anticipated bout.
Last month, Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) announced that Paul and Davis would duke it out on Nov. 14 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. The exhibition fight was initially slated to take place at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, but hit a major stumbling block.
Despite the immediate hiccup, Paul and Davis still met in front of a packed crowd gathered at Palladium Theater in New York City on Monday. Taking to social media, Portnoy gave the 28-year-old his due praise for managing to garner immense excitement around yet another “clown show.”
“I’ve said it once I’ll say it again. Jake Paul is arguably the greatest marketer of all time,” the Barstool Sports founder wrote on X. “One absolute clown show after another and somehow people keep paying him and showing up. This is insane.
“What is more impressive? That team Jake Paul got this fight sanctioned with the height/weight difference or the Tyson fight with the age difference? Both are just preposterous fights.”
Last November, Paul stepped into the ring against Mike Tyson in what’s since been crowned the most streamed global sporting event in history, with Netflix raking in a whopping 108 million viewers on fight night.
The main event itself left much to be desired, as Tyson showed his age just minutes into the fight after appearing to exert nearly all of his energy in the first round. Paul, meanwhile, landed 78 of his 278 punches thrown en route to winning handedly by the final judge’s score of 80-72, 79-73, 79-73.
Ahead of his latest fight, Paul’s critics have already pointed out that “El Gallo de Dorado” once again has a significant physical advantage over his opponent. At 6’1″ and 200 pounds going off his most recent bout, he towers over Davis, who stands at 5’5″ and 133.8 pounds.
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Addressing how the significant size difference will impact their fight, Paul explained: “I would say a lot of things, but I think first and foremost is going to be my reach, my size, and being able to keep him away. I think there’s a lot of holes in his defense that a lot of people haven’t exposed before.”
Davis, however, believes that his stature may pose several challenges for Paul. “I’m much quicker than him. He’s much stronger and much bigger, but we all know that it’s harder for taller fighters to fight a shorter one,” the 30-year-old explained. “He’s decent and he’s gonna hold up for a couple of rounds — but once it gets hot in there, you know how things play out.”