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LOS ANGELES – Jake Paul, a controversial influencer who won a boxing match against legend Mike Tyson on Friday, rose to fame thanks to videos on social networks before becoming a successful businessman.
Schoolboy videos
Jake Paul, born in 1997 in Ohio, began his adventure as an influencer as a teenager by posting school videos on the Vine and YouTube networks from 2013 with his brother Logan. His audience growing, he was recruited by Disney Channel for the series Bizaardvark where he played a tailor-made character, before being quickly fired.
Now a young adult living in Los Angeles, he gives free rein to his wild imagination by continuing to shoot videos with his friends (lots of burning objects, jumping into a swimming pool, two-wheeled feats), and maintains an almost party. permanent that drives the residents of his neighborhood crazy. A period during which he explains having widely abused illicit substances.
Boxing as a fad
The tall blonde with multiple tattoos started boxing in 2018, organizing two fights for him and his brother against two rival British YouTubers.
Paul then tries to dust off the noble art, knocking it out. in 2020 former NBA player Nate Robinson, then former mixed martial arts specialists, but lost on points in 2023 to Tommy Fury, reality TV star and half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
In 2021, he launched a fight that smacked of staging with Floyd Mayweather Jr., before the latter’s exhibition fight against his brother Logan.
Jake Paul, whose progressive style does not convince purists, pulls off a big coup by organizing a fight with Mike Tyson.
“When I beat Mike Tyson, it won’t change anything, people will never give me credit,” he explains in a documentary.
Whistled during his success, since the start of his career he has played on his “bad boy” image, which is a hit on social networks.
“I like criticism, it’s necessary, I thrive on it,” he says. But it’s weird because more and more people like me, it’s confusing. It’s good, because I believe I’m a good person. »
Multiple controversies
In 2020, Jake Paul sparked controversy for throwing a huge party at his Calabasas villa in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
This same villa was raided a few months later by the FBI, who seized firearms, after the YouTuber appeared on a video in a vandalized shopping center in Arizona during anti-racist protests.
Paul, charged with unlawful trespass and prohibited assembly, apologizes but denies wrongdoing.
In 2023, he and other influencers were prosecuted by the American market watchdog for advertising cryptocurrencies without revealing that they were paid to do so.
Paul agrees to pay $101,887 in restitution and fines, without admitting or denying his guilt.
Skillful businessman
After trying his hand at singing, managing to organize prestigious collaborations such as with the rapper Gucci Mane, Paul went into business with Nakisa Bidarian, with whom he created a fight promotion company (“MVP”), which notably counts in its ranks the Puerto Rican Amanda Serrano, one of the best boxers in the world.
Paul also ventures into venture capital (investment and stakes in young companies), creates a sports betting site, and has just launched a brand of body care products, all while surfing on his more than 20 million YouTube subscribers and 27 million followers on Instagram.
In a relationship with Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, multiple world champion and Olympic vice-champion in 2022, Paul is based in Puerto Rico in a villa between his luxury cars and his koi carp.
Before the presidential election, he called in a video to vote for Donald Trump to “literally save America”.