Rosie Perez isn’t sure how to feel about Jake Paul after the YouTube star two fought her close friend, Mike Tyson, in a boring fight earlier this month.
Perez, who was a guest commentator for Paul vs. Tyson on Netflix, admitted that Paul has done a lot for boxing as a whole, but everything else that comes with him is a bit unsettling.
“It’s complicated, my feelings in regard to Jake Paul,” Perez said on the “Dan LeBatard Show.”
“Because I am so grateful for him for getting Amanda Serrano paid. I mean, really, that woman has been getting punched in the face for what, 16 years? And didn’t get a big payday until he came around? That’s really sad.
“In regards to him as a boxer, he has gotten better; he’s taken it seriously. But, yeah. You know…Yeah,” Perez said while laughing ensued by her and the show hosts.
Serrano, largely considered one of the best female boxers of all time, had said she fought world title fights for as little as $4,000-$5,000.
After signing with Paul’s promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions, she has had multiple seven figure paydays.
She claimed to have made more than her opponent, Katie Taylor, to fight on the Paul-Tyson undercard.
Taylor, who won the thrilling fight via a controversial decision, disclosed that she made $6.1 million to fight Serrano as the co-main event of the massive fight card.
The two had previously fought to a decision which Taylor won as Madison Square Garden in April, 2022.
Paul’s win over Tyson drew an incredible audience to the streaming platform, but those who did tune in saw little action — particularly in the closing rounds.
Paul is undoubtedly the biggest face in boxing right now, but there’s something Perez didn’t love that the she couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Paul has mostly made a career off boxing MMA fighters who are past their prime, including 37-year-old wrestling savant Ben Askren, 39-year-old ex-champion Tyron Woodley, 47-year-old former striking connoisseur Anderson Silva and 38-year-old fan favorite Nate Diaz.
The Problem Child, 11-1, followed with a spectacle of a match against a 58-year-old Tyson, who could barely stand by the end of the fight.
The fight’s lack of action led some to believe the fight was rigged, which got the attention of Paul’s team. MVP Promotions released a scathing statement about the “baseless claims” that the competition wasn’t fought in good faith.
Netflix claims 108 million people watched Paul fight Tyson.
There are many concerns since the conclusion of Paul-Tyson, including when the Youtuber-turned-boxer told reporters that he was not trying to knock out the legend in the fight; with at least one lawyer speculating that a class action lawsuit could soon come surrounding the betting on the fight.