Bruce Buffer Says Jake & Logan Paul Are Good For Boxing

Boxing has reached an era where celebrity bouts are more exciting, and earn more PPV buys than any other type of fight. While fighters like Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Canelo Alverez, and Gennady Golovkin (I know there are others, I'm a casual boxing fan, sue me) are still big draws, boxing has reached a new age, the social influencer age.

There are no bigger influencers in the combat sports game than the Paul brothers.

Jake and Logan Paul, who are natives of Westlake, Ohio, have made quite a name for themselves on multiple social media platforms including Vine, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter. 

When Jake Paul enters the ring against former UFC Welterweight Champion, Tyron Woodley at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland on August 29, he will do so following his brother's exhibition match against Floyd Mayweather in Miami this past June.

Yes, two brothers from a Cleveland suburb are the hottest names in combat sports right now.

If you can imagine, people don't really like this, and for good reason. While most combat fighters, like actual train their whole life fighters, are scraping by with lousy paychecks, the Paul brothers are making top-tier money. You can argue that this is bad for the sport, and you have a pretty significant argument.

Bruce Buffer's Thoughts

However, UFC ring announcer Bruce Buffer joined BIGPLAY's Dave McAllester and Chris McNeil on the BIGPLAY Reflog Show to discuss the upcoming fight and why it might be good for the sport to have these types of exhibition matches.

"Heres the thing, it's entertainment," Buffer said. "You have the professional realm with the UFC, you have the professional realm with fighting and boxing, what you're dealing with here is not so much a money grab, it's a show, its entertainment, its a business."

Nobody knows this more than Buffer, or even his brother, Michael Buffer, who is famous for his "Let's get ready to Rumble!" catchphrase before big boxing matches.

"They put Butts in the seats and that's what sells," Buffer said. It's called exhibition, it's not professional."

I get why people are upset with the direction that boxing is going. But like Buffer said, this is not boxing. This is not the WBC, no real titles or belts are on the line, this is a production, which is what the Paul brothers and countless other social media stars do.

The one thing that I will credit social media stars for, is that they bring attention to things like no other person can. While sometimes it might be bad, in this case, it brings attention to boxing, which for the past decade or so, is getting demolished by the UFC.

"If you are going to bring eyeballs that normally wouldn't even watch boxing or even MMA then more power to it, bring those young eyeballs to the sport," Buffer said. "Especially in boxing because in boxing, fans are kind of dying off, they are in the older demographic."

Will This Help Boxing?

Buffer hit the nail right on the head. This has nothing to do with actual boxing. This is almost another different sport. Celebrity boxing is just that, celebrities who get in a ring and kind of fight.

What if the fans of these influencers, who are typically very young, become boxing fans? This can only help the sport. The chance of damage is very little. Does anyone really care if the Paul brothers go out there and "make a mockery of boxing?" These are the types of people who claim they don't watch it so why does it matter?

The pearl-clutching with sports is starting to get out of hand. If you don't like it, don't watch it. At the end of the day, this will bring more fans to the sport, because as Buffer said,

"Logan Paul and Jake Paul will always put asses in seats."