Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will face YouTube sensation Jake Paul on October 29th. Even though Silva is touted as one of the greatest strikers in the history of combat sports, he is past his prime and is now 47 years old. On the other hand, Paul is currently 25 years old and in his athletic prime.
As they say, in combat sports, everyone has a puncher’s chance. This could very well be proven by ‘The Problem Child, who will look to add another win to his undefeated record. Moreover, ‘The Spider’ also had some concerns about the possibility of losing to Paul. In an episode of the Full Send podcast, Silva was asked what worried him most about facing Paul. He stated that Paul had the power and speed to beat him. However, he added, he was preparing to face the best boxer in his mind and not just another YouTuber.
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“He’s fast, he has a hard punch. He has good power, but in my mind, I’m training to fight the best boxer and that’s my mind training. You gonna fight with the best guy, you don’t fight with the young YouTuber. You’re gonna fight with the best boxer.” said Silva.
Despite his initial fears, Silva seems confident that he can get the job done on October 29th. Silva is currently on a 2-0 run defeating Julio Cesar Chavez and fellow ex-UFC champion Tito Ortiz. Moreover, after the Paul fight, he is even planning to do one more fight in a rule set that would be favorable to him.
Anderson Silva details conversation with Canelo Alvarez
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Silva recently revealed the details of an interesting conversation he had with undisputed super-middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez. He stated that Saul advised him to just show respect to the sport of boxing. It didn’t matter to Alvarez if the opponent was Paul or any other. He just wanted Silva to prove his respect for boxing.
“I received a phone call from Canelo to say ‘continue, I know you respect the boxing,’ and that’s what I needed to do; prove my respect for boxing.” said Silva. The two have been acquainted with each other since they met during Silva’s training camp for his fight against Chavez Jr. in Mexico last year. They have been good friends since then, which was certainly proved by this phone call.
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What did you think about Silva’s chances against Paul? Let us know in the comments.
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