Artur Beterbiev has astonishing offered Jake Paul a shot at his undisputed light-heavyweight world titles after his win over Mike Tyson.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer has come in for heavy criticism for fighting a man 31 years his senior on Friday night, though refrained from KOing him as their eight-round bout went the distance.
While Paul took on Tyson at heavyweight and most commonly boxes at cruiserweight, he has competed at light-heavyweight in the past.
The current king in that 175lbs division is Russian-Canadian Artur Beterbiev.
Last month, Beterbiev earned a narrow win over Dmitry Bivol in an elite battle which crowned him the undisputed WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO light-heavyweight world champion.
It appears the pair will most likely now head for a rematch.
However, in a shock post after Paul’s win over Tyson, Beterbiev took to Instagram to offer him a title shot.
He wrote: “Jake Paul what can you do in a ring against the current undisputed champion? Just know that I’m open to any suggestions.”
At 39 years old, Beterbiev may not have many years left at the top of the sport so it is understandable that he is pursuing a big payday.
While some fans thought it embarrassing for an undisputed champion to call out a YouTuber, others embraced the idea purely because they would enjoy seeing a one-sided affair not in Paul’s favour.
“On one hand I love this, Beterbiev would absolutely maul him. On the other hand, Paul doesn’t deserve a title shot,” one fan said.
A second wrote: “Now this would be hilarious to watch.”
While a third fan predicted: “Beterbiev by sanctioned murder.”
A fourth put: “Beterbiev beats him with 1 hand tied behind his back.”
And a fifth fan commented: “I don’t care if they want to make some money but they won’t get mine. I don’t trust it to be an unscripted fight, and if it was it wouldn’t last a couple of minutes.”
However another fan concluded: “Give the shot to someone who deserves it. Some fighters fought for years and are yearning for a chance to get all four belts. We don’t need some rigged, contracted, scripted fight that will make Jake Paul look like America’s hero.”
Beterbiev is not the only boxer who wants to fight Paul – Gervonta Davis said he would ‘beat the breaks off’ the 27-year-old.
Some within the world of boxing such as Tony Bellew believe the sport should boycott him.
Tyson reportedly pocketed a guaranteed $20million [£15.8m] for his participation in the clash, while Paul may earn double with a total purse of $40m [£31.4m].
This is seen as a no-brainer by many pros considering the only active professional boxer Paul fought thus far (who wasn’t a journeyman) resulted in a loss.
Tommy Fury who rose to fame from reality TV show Love Island beat Paul in February 2023 via split decision after eight rounds.
The rest of Paul’s fights were mostly against retired MMA fighters such as Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz and Tyron Woodley.
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