By Jordan Rosas AKA The Sweet Science Professor
4 Reasons Jake Paul Can Beat Ben Askren
1. Size
While Ben Askren’s best fight weight was around 170 lbs, Jake Paul is nearly 200 lbs. Paul also has a 2-3 inch height and reach advantage. Jake is also pretty chiseled. Ben has always been a bit pudgier. Thicker builds aren’t uncommon in MMA, but the extra fat doesn’t help much in boxing. Theoretically, a professional fighter should be able to punch significantly harder than a normal person, but Askren was never much of a puncher (among pro fighters). That and the size difference might be enough to erase any power advantage Askren would have.
2. Age
At 24-years-old, Jake Paul is in his physical prime, while Askren, retired at 36, is well past his best fighting days. While Jake’s greatest strength might be his hand speed and work rate, Askren has never had particularly quick hands, and grappling based combat disciplines tend to have a slower work rate than striking based ones.
Additionally, this fight is scheduled for eight rounds. Unlike MMA’s five minute rounds, boxing has shorter, three minute rounds. However, while most MMA main event bouts have five rounds, most MMA fights consist of three rounds. While Paul has never gone the distance, Askren hasn’t been the distance since 2016. While it’s tough to predict which fighter is more likely to tire first, boxers in general tend to have better long term stamina than grapplers and MMA fighters. People usually have better stamina in their twenties than in their thirties.
3. Boxing Technique
Between the Paul brothers, Jake is easily the far superior boxer. He moves well, has good boxing instincts, and has surprisingly competent hand speed. He’s mostly fought as the aggressor, but produced a devastating knockout against Nate Robinson using some intelligent counterpunching. Askren, on the other hand, has his roots in grappling. Even throughout his MMA career, his standup game always seemed to be little more than a means to his strong ground game.
4. Ring Rust
Askren hasn’t fought since 2019. While many (real) professional boxers have successfully come off of extended layoffs due to COVID without showing much ring rust, Askren’s layoff is due to retirement. On top of that, his last fighting experience was MMA, not boxing. Jake Paul meanwhile, last fought in November 2020. Six months is a longer time for green boxers, but it’s a normal length period of inactivity for modern champions.
4 Reasons Why He Won’t
1. Experience
Jake Paul has one amateur fight and two pro fights. None of them were against other fighters. In fact, Jake has never faced an opponent who’s been in a real fight before. Even though Askren, like all of Paul’s previous opponents, has no boxing experience, he has a wealth of combat experience across multiple disciplines. In addition to an MMA record of 19-2 with one No Contest, Askren was 153-8 as a collegiate wrestler, advancing to the NCAA D1 national championship all four years, and winning twice. As a freestyle wrestler, he competed in the 2008 Olympics.
Unlike Jake Paul, Ben Askren has lost. He’s been in difficult situations and had to come up with creative solutions. He’s fought stronger guys, faster guys, better guys, and won. He knows his skillset and how to make his opponent uncomfortable. Paul has never been challenged. He’s never been in tough situations in the ring.
2. Chin
Ben Askren can take a punch. Sure, he might be best known for being on the losing end of the fastest KO in UFC history, but that was a flying knee from ranked UFC headliner Jorge Masvidal, five seconds into the fight. While Askren may not have elite punching power, neither has anyone else Jake Paul has faced. The difference is, Askren has faced guys who do. He’s been cut, tasted his own blood, been slammed on his head, and found ways to win. As Mike Tyson said “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” We haven’t seen Jake in trouble. We haven’t seen him really get rocked. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a good chin, it just means we don’t know. Over eight rounds though, there’s a good chance we’ll get to find out.
3. Athleticism
I mentioned Askren’s accomplishments earlier. Jake may be ripped, but body beautiful looks aren’t everything. If they were, Cam Newton would be a much better QB than Tom Brady. Doughy Tyson Fury knocked out a shredded Deontay Wilder. Anthony Joshua, who looks like he was sculpted by Michelangelo himself, was knocked out by Andy Ruiz, a guy built like the Michelin Man. Jake may have the better BMI, but Ben’s been in 22 pro fights. He won NCAA D1 titles. He went to the Olympics. He’s even an elite amateur disc golfer. Simply put, the guy is a far superior athlete.
4. Film
Ben looks awful on tape. Not in a Nate-Peterman-is-trash-but-he’d-still-be-a-stud-in pick-up-football kind of way. Ben looks awful as in I look better in drills than he does. My average punches have more heat than his in the training videos, and he fights 20 pounds heavier than I walk around at, which means he’s probably got about 35-40 pounds on me. In his released boxing footage, he doesn’t even look like a pro athlete.
I saw a comment on one of the videos uploaded to YouTube that compared him to someone in physical therapy using boxing to relearn how to use their limbs. And I have to agree. It’s one thing to say a fighter has “No hands,” when the standard is professional prizefighters. Ben looks like he would lose a fist fight to the average Joe off the street.
I don’t want to believe my eyes. I know Askren has a reputation for being one dimensional, but I refuse to believe that someone could spend a decade as a professional mixed martial artist, and still not know how to throw a punch. I think Ben’s purposely putting out sloppy footage to get Jake to drop his guard. It’s a dangerous strategy for someone who doesn’t have much of a strike game to begin with, but I have to think he’s much better than these awful videos.
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