Floyd Mayweather calls Jake Paul fight ‘too easy,’ Paul fires back with knockout prediction

Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Jake Paul will probably never fight, but that doesn’t mean they can’t continue to verbally jab at each other.

The rivals have a long history dating back to when Paul’s brother Logan Paul met in an exhibition boxing bout in June 2021. At a press conference ahead of that event, Jake memorably stole Mayweather’s hat, nearly causing a melee. Mayweather went on to go eight rounds with Logan in a bout that was not officially scored.

The undefeated Mayweather is technically retired, though he continues to book exhibition bouts around the world. During an appearance on The Tonight Show on Wednesday, Mayweather was asked if he would like to meet Jake Paul in the ring, a suggestion he dismissed.

“Easy,” Mayweather said. “Too easy. At 48, too easy.”

Paul caught wind of the clip and replied Thursday morning, calling Mayweather a “bum” and predicting he would need less than two rounds to knock out the boxing legend.

Paul, an influencer-turned-pro boxer, is coming off of a highly successful fight with longtime heavyweight king Mike Tyson. Though Paul’s decision win over the 58-year-old Tyson was widely lambasted for its poor quality, the event streamed live to anyone with a Netflix subscription and reportedly broke numerous viewership records.

Those numbers mean little to Mayweather, one of the biggest pay-per-view draws in combat sports history. He scoffed at the popularity of Paul vs. Tyson, claiming his achievements mean more because of the price fans were willing to pay to see him fight.

“I don’t really know where to go with this subject because if I say something I’m going to get backlash,” Mayweather said. “No matter what I say, it’s not right.

“Well, basically, when you’re watching boxing for free, you can have millions and millions and millions, hundreds of millions of views, but when you’re watching Floyd Mayweather, you have to pay. I did pay-per-view numbers. Check the record.”