Paul vs Silva: The main card is set to get underway at 8 p.m. ET / 1 a.m. BST with the main event ringwalks scheduled for 11 p.m. ET /
Jake Paul continued to express his admiration for Anderson Silva during a press tour, even following the combat sports legend on Instagram, during an event at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Ariz., site of their mega fight on Saturday, October 29 on SHOWTIME PPV. Fans in the UK can watch the fighs on FITETV:
The main event clash pitting boxing’s newest disrupter versus the future Hall of Famer is contracted for eight rounds at a catchweight of 187 pounds. On Tuesday, Paul again referred to Silva, a UFC icon who has successfully transitioned his elite striking skills to boxing, as his idol growing up.
Tickets will go on sale Wednesday, September 14 at 1 p.m. ET and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com, The press conference was hosted once again by former BELLATOR MMA and UFC world title contender and Silva rival Chael Sonnen and was streamed live on the SHOWTIME BOXING Instagram page.
The two-leg press tour started Monday in Los Angeles at the NeueHouse Hollywood with Paul trekking to the facility in a Bugatti E-scooter and once again making a grand entrance to the Phoenix area arena on Tuesday in his mini motorized Italian sports vehicle.
The fight between Paul and Silva is a compelling contest between a flashy, hard-punching newcomer in Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) against combat sports royalty in Silva who is now embarking in an intriguing second phase in his career as a boxer.
Here’s a sampling of what the participants had to say at Tuesday’s press conference:
JAKE PAUL
“I’m feeling so good. Obviously, I had two fights where my opponents backed out this whole entire year so I’m ready.
“I’ve been in training camp basically the whole entire year, so I’m feeling really good. I’m in shape and I’m ready to go.
“If the fight was this Saturday, I would be ready but October 29, like you said, it’s going to come up fast and this is one of the shortest training camps we’ve ever done.
“They want a payday, but you know that’s the name of the game. People want to see me lose and that’s what I built my career off of. So I get it, I get the hate. And I’ve just had to establish myself and work hard in the gym.
“I’ve been fortunate because I went to the doctors and they said I had an enlarged moose knuckle on my fist, so I’ve just been knocking everyone out man, and it might be scientific because of the way I was born.
“I mean, this could be a changing of the guard. Or you could win and, you know, silence the kid that everyone wants to be silenced, so I do think this is iconic in that sense. And you’re a f**ing legend bro, and you’re good as sh** so it’s gonna be a tough fight.
“When I was standing on stage with them recreating the picture with my brother yesterday, I almost flashed back to the moment when I was a kid and I said that you couldn’t really write this in a movie. Like, I don’t think a writer could have come up with this storyline the way everything’s unfolded. So, I’ve just had to sort of pinch myself and it still really hasn’t sunk in to be quite honest. But I’m sure it will. At the end of the day, you know that this is what I’m good at. And come fight week, I’ll be ready to do what I do best: Fight.
“Look, I always train like I’m fighting the best person in the world. We don’t cut corners no matter who the opponent is. You never know what your opponent’s gonna bring to the ring. And you have to be prepared for the hardest test of your life. But we have a bunch of southpaw sparring partners in training camp who are doing their best to emulate his style. Obviously, it’s super unique, but all of my fights pretty much have been against MMA guys, so I’m sort of used to that differentiated style and different combinations and bigger punches and the unorthodox style. So, I’ve always been training for that.
“We’ve talked about the photo. I just wonder if you went back and told that 14-year-old version of yourself or however old you were that you’re going to be fighting Anderson freakin’ Silva one day, what would that guy thing? He wouldn’t believe it.
“You know, (that boy) wouldn’t believe anything that’s transpired over the last like eight years of my career. You know where I’m from? You’re not supposed to be on this stage right now and do any of the things that I’m doing. You know, where I’m from, success isn’t really a thing. It’s really an environment where you grow up, you go to college, you get a job and then you get married and then like, live the rest of your life there. So man, it doesn’t make any sense this whole entire journey. I’ve just set dreams for myself and woke up every single day and just worked hard to accomplish them.
“I think this shows that people can make more money in boxing than they can in the UFC, and I hope that the UFC starts to pay fighters more and this is a step in the right direction, but it’s clear that all of their talent and rosters sort of chase that.
“A fight with Mike Tyson — that’d be crazy. Yeah, and I have so much respect for him. He’s another one of my idols. And I think he said he wanted to do the fight. Mike, where are you at?”
ANDERSON SILVA
“I continue training hard every day in my life, I never stop. Now my focus is only in boxing. I help my kids train [in other combat sports] but my focus is only boxing. I feel it’s necessary to respect my fans and continue training every day, and I will never stop.
“I promise I will go do my best to make a good show for everyone here.
“My focus now is on this fight because this fight is very important for every single new generation, and my generation too. I believe in one thing: if you love something you can do anything, if you believe in yourself you can do anything. That’s why I’m here today because I never stopped believing in myself.”
“It’s amazing because I have a picture with this kid (Paul) when he was a baby, and now I’m here with him. I feel so lucky.
“Everybody says, ‘oh, why do you go fight with this young kid he’s not a real fighter.’ It’s not about losing or winning, it’s about how much I love this and how much I can continue doing this with the new generation.
“I don’t think I’m going to lose, but if I lose, I don’t think it will affect my legacy or my career.
“Let me suggest something even better: What if you [tattoo] the picture of me, you and your brother, and I’ll take the picture to frame it and put it in my house.
“I go on Instagram a lot, I started following you — I stalk you.
“I think that everybody knows this fight is amazing. It is not just for the MMA community. This show is for every single person to come to this city and watch. It’s not about that I’m representing the MMA community, it’s about doing the big show and the best show for everybody in this city.
“When you come here you need to prove why you’re here, why you’ve come to this country.
“I think age is but a number, I think my experience is going to help me a lot to do my job inside the ring.”
