Ben Askren vs Jake Paul...
my predictions on this shameful bout.
Hatred sells more tickets than greatness.
Jake Paul is by far most hated man in combat sports... and it's not even close.
Tonight he boxes Ben Askren, an internationally recognized Olympic wrestler, and a multi-promotion mixed martial arts champion.
Before I give you the low-down on this fight, I would like to start with some light roasting of Ben Askren... who I respect immensely:
Ben Askren looks like the tallest hobbit.
Ben Askren has the physique of ET... 's mother.
He perfectly represents the 30-65 year old male demographic by being in equally bad shape as the rest of us.
And yet... these are the child-bearing hips of a multi-sport world champion.
...after a very rough start.
But the truth is, Ben Askren is one of the WORST strikers in the history of the UFC.
...but he is an Olympic level wrestler, and not many people understand what it takes to compete at that level.
He started wrestling at the age of 6, and spent a lifetime slamming other human beings, before becoming a 2 time NCAA champ (4 time finalist). And he achieved this purely by suffering horribly, for multiple hours every day, in a 100 degree wrestling room.
After college, he continued on to win an assortment of championships, and again, competed at the Olympic level.
The amount of pain and dedication required to get to this point... is truly immeasurable.
This is all before becoming a mixed martial arts champion for the better part of a decade.
But this still doesn't change the fact that he is a terrible striker.
My goodness... he's so terrible.
Jake Paul himself also ain't great.
If you're even remotely interested in Jake's fighting skills, you can watch his fight against Nate Robinson, which proved nothing... except that professional basketball is by far the worst base in combat sports.
His boxing form is not terrible. He's just not talented in any respect. He's been doing this for a couple of years, which ain't much. I would consider him to be a below-average amateur boxer, if that means anything to you.
But he's athletic...
And Ben Askren is just so terrrrrrrrrible at punching.
So here's my prediction:
If Ben Askren tries to to box Jake Paul in the center of the ring and test the superiority of his striking skill, I think that he will probably lose.
Jake Paul is the better boxer out of these two abysmal boxers.
BUT... if Ben Askren pushes Jake Paul against the ropes and hangs on his arms, and hangs on his head... this will be a different story.
The human body adapts over time to support the activities that you undertake.
Take a climber's hands for example:
After years and years of hanging on boulders, your fingers become thick. Your knuckles become knobby. Your very flesh becomes resistant to rock induced laceration. Again, your body adapts to the activities that you undertake.
Ben Askren's body has adapted over the course of multiple decades to endure intense grappling. His arms can press longer, pull longer, hang longer. You could probably do pull ups on this man's neck.
If he uses that to his advantage and if he exhausts Jake Paul, I believe he will win.
Lordy, I hope he does. Jake Paul is a terrible person.
But my brain is telling me that Jake Paul will out-strike him otherwise. As little as I respect Jake Paul and his skills, he's a better terrible-boxer than Ben Askren.
That's all I have.
I'm not proof-reading this.
Have a fantastic weekend.
-Trav