Google News Jake Paul reacted to the criticism: I lose faith in my generation and my peers
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Jake Paul achieved great success by defeating Anderson Silva in the last match. He still can't believe what success he achieved. “It’s still pretty crazy to me, beating one of the greatest combat strikers of all time,” Paul told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour.
“I’m just proud of myself. I’m proud I was able to execute everything we worked on in the gym. This is the first fight where everything was slowed down for me, and I was able to really, really handle the moment really well and execute the game plan perfectly.
I felt really comfortable in there, and here we are. It’s unbelievable, it’s surreal. I can’t believe I actually pulled it off, but I’m very proud of myself”. There are many who criticize Paul and think that the match is rigged.
Paul does not want to react to such criticism. “I think smart people with intelligence are giving me props and respect,” Paul said. “Like the WBC President [Mauricio Sulaimán] saying that anyone who says Jake is not a real boxer is just bitter and is a hater.
People like Teddy Atlas showing me mad respect, a lot of fighters showing me mad respect, a lot of MMA guys texting me saying, ‘You look really sharp, that was the best you’ve fought,’ Ryan Garcia showing me respect.
So the smart people who I care about are showing that love. There are the people who will always be there in my career who are discrediting it. Now, they’re saying it was rigged. It went from, ‘Jake’s going to get knocked out by Anderson,’ to, ‘Oh, that was rigged.’ ...
Jake Paul and his success
Paul does not want anyone to diminish his great success. He wants to enjoy moments right now. “I lose faith in my generation and my peers, and us as a society and a world when I see that type of stuff and that type of stupidity.
It just sucks. It sucks because I worked so hard for this. I dedicate everything, sacrifice everything, every single day, bust my balls, have a 15-person team working around the clock to help me become the best boxer possible, and when I do something like beating Anderson Silva, they try to take it away from me.
But I know deep down, and I guess that’s all that really matters”. Jake also talked about how he is slowly getting used to the big scene. He believes that he has made great progress. “Even the Jake that fought Tyron Woodley in Tampa wouldn’t have beaten this version of Anderson Silva,” Paul said.
“I have gotten so much better this year, so much sharper. It’s kudos to my team but also I’ve only been doing this as a professional for about three years now, so this year was the third year where everything really just started to click in the gym.
And just handling the moment and the pressure. I think even those fights in Cleveland and Tampa, I was still learning how to work with the crowd, still learning how to feel good under the lights, hold in the anticipation of the big moment.
That’s art and now I really have that down. I wasn’t nervous for this fight at all, it was like I was supposed to be there”.