UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman admits he’d prefer to “gamble” in the boxing ring with Canelo Alvarez than Jake Paul.
The UFC’s pound-for-pound king has been calling for a clash with undisputed super-middleweight king Canelo for close to a year but has yet to seriously get the Mexican’s attention.
UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman wants to test himself in the boxing ring
Usman is eager to test himself against former pound-for-pound king Canelo
The prospect of facing YouTuber Jake Paul doesn’t interest The Nigerian Nightmare
Usman, however, has also been subjected to multiple taunts from YouTuber turned boxer Paul during that time – although the social media star has done little to entice The Nigerian Nightmare to fight him.
During an appearance on The Athlete Podcast, Usman said: “Me fighting Jake Paul, I’m helping him.
“I beat Jake Paul, nobody cares. You’re supposed to beat him. I still get a bank account now, I still get that.
“I beat Canelo, biggest athlete in the world, not even close, 100 million in the bank. If I’m gonna gamble, I’m gonna gamble well.”
Former Disney star Paul has made serious waves in the boxing world since making his pro debut in January 2020.
The Problem Child brutally knocked out former UFC 170lb champ Tyron Woodley – who Usman dethroned in March 2019 – in the sixth round of their rematch last December.
Usman said of the YouTuber: “Absolutely [fighting Jake Paul is a risk]. Listen, me and him get in a scrap right now, he could touch me.
“I’m not naive or ignorant enough to think – let them put it on the news. I’m a realist.
“I know I’m gonna dog walk him, but at the same time, everyone has a puncher’s chance.”
Usman’s eagerness to test himself against Canelo stems from his desire to become ‘the face of fight game’.
The UFC star recently told SunSport said: “Obviously, the bigger the dream, the bigger the manifestation.
“And the more it scares me, the more I’m willing to prepare and go through [hell] to achieve it.
“It’s no surprise. Canelo is a tall glass for anybody – a tall pint.
Fighting Canelo scares and excites Kamaru Usman
“And it scares me, it scares me to death. But the real reason [I want the fight] is: I wanted to be welterweight champion, I got it.
“I wanted to be pound-for-pound, I got it.
“I always thought this phrase was special, and the phrase that I’m after now is: ‘The Face of the Fight Game’.
“And Canelo, right now, can’t say [he’s the face of the fight game].
“Yeah, he’s the face of boxing, but he can’t say he’s the face of the fight game.
“And I can’t claim to that as well. So, there’s only one way for me to stake claim to that.
“And that’s taking on something that seems astronomically impossible to everyone, except myself.”
