MMA veteran Anthony
Taylor has found himself a lucrative gig training with
social-medi- personality-turned-boxer Jake
Paul.
The 32-year-old Alameda, Calif., native has compiled a 7-5 record
in the cage while competing for organizations such as Bellator MMA,
Combate Americas and the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts.
His last bout came in January 2020, when he captured a majority
decision against Chris Avila
at Bellator 238. Since then, however, “Pretty Boy” turned down a
chance to fight in order to train with Paul.
“I had the opportunity to fight in Cage Warriors but I couldn’t
pass up the money Jake was offering,” Taylor told
Betway Insider US. “I’m getting paid more money as Jake’s
training partner in two months than I made in my whole entire MMA
career in six years. I swear to God, I made more money with Jake in
two months than my whole MMA career.
“That’s disturbing when you think about it, because I fought for
Bellator. I’ve fought two top five contenders in Bellator and I had
a good run. It’s time to take it up a notch and fight for the
UFC.”
For now, Taylor will compete on the undercard of the Paul vs.
Tyron
Woodley headliner, when he squares off against Tommy Fury, the
half-brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.
The event takes place at Rocket Mortgage Arena in Cleveland and
airs via pay-per-view on Showtime at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
“I’m about to bloody him up, he’s going to be in a dog fight. Tommy
is not ready for me, Tommy is not ready to be taken into the
trenches. He’s underestimating me, he’s looking over me,” Taylor
said. “He thinks he is flying into Cleveland to win and then face
off with Jake, but he ain’t even going to see Jake that night.”
“I’m going to test his chin for the first time and I’m going to
shock the world. He has nothing I haven’t seen before. He’s going
in the second round by TKO. He’ll regret overlooking me. I’m
working hard, I’m hungry. He’s not that skilled. I want what he
has; the money, the status, everything. I have nothing to lose and
everything to gain. If I lose then it’s just an MMA fighter losing
to a boxer. But if I win this fight, I’m a megastar.”
MMA fighters transitioning to boxing has become all the rage of
late, with Woodley following in the footsteps of Roufusport
training partner Ben Askren
into a fight with Paul. Askren fell to Paul via first-round KO in
April, but Woodley, a former UFC welterweight champion, would seem
to be a more difficult test for the YouTube star.
Taylor, however, sees Woodley as having bitten off a little more
than he can chew with his transition to the Sweet Science.
“Tyron is a lot more athletic than Askren. But Tyron does not have
that experience of boxing, it’s not like he’s taken a year off to
box. You’re talking about a guy that’s coming off four or five
losses and just practicing MMA, you can’t expect him to be a world
class boxer in three months,” Taylor said. “There’s levels to
boxing. Jake’s been training for the past two and half years
nonstop. He’s a workaholic and this man is putting in the work.
“When you put a guy like Jake in the boxing ring with a guy like
Tyron, Jake’s going to win that all day, just because he’s been
working on the repetition and the mechanics of boxing. Tyron
technically has a punchers chance but Jake is a better boxer. Tyron
is a better fighter because of his MMA background, but Jake is a
better boxer.
“There’s a lot of people that think Tyron is going to knock out
Jake. But I see it the other way around. He’s looking great.”