The Floyd Mayweather vs. Logan Paul boxing match is only an exhibition, but the energy around it is apparently tense. And it’s all Jake Paul’s fault.
Jake pulled off a prank that triggered Mayweather last month when the YouTuber-turned-professional-boxer plucked the cap off Mayweather’s head at a press event to promote the fight with Logan. Jake, who planned the stunt ahead of time, admitted afterward that the reaction from Mayweather and subsequent brawl at Hard Rock Stadium was more than even he bargained for.
Showtime Sports president Stephen Espinoza, who’s worked with Mayweather for many years, said he can’t remember a time when Mayweather was so mad about something in the lead-up to a fight – not even during the world tour with Conor McGregor, which raised eyebrows for various reasons.
“I have never seen him that angry, not even in the McGregor press tour when it was very personal,” Espinoza told the Daily Express. “It was not arranged or pre-planned by Floyd or his team. I think Jake very much had it pre-planned and capitalized in his own unique way – from the tattoo to the merchandise to everything he made out of it.
“From Floyd, I think that in some of the same way that the McGregor press tour changed the perception of that event, it went from being a circus to realizing there’s real animosity there. (The Jake incident) has layered on a little more motivation for both sides.
“Floyd felt disrespected. He was very angry. He’s not that good an actor, to be quite honest, to show that level of wrath on command for something he wasn’t really angry about, so very much so it angered him.”
How this affects the fight will be revealed this Sunday when Mayweather and Logan Paul square off in the ring on pay-per-view in Miami.
