On Wednesday night, outside of a Miami Heat-Cleveland Cavaliers game in Miami, boxer/YouTuber/influencer Jake Paul was accosted by Floyd Mayweather and several members of his entourage and, literally, chased from the scene.
A video posted on celebrity gossip site TMZ shows Paul being taunted outside the arena by Mayweather and at least a couple dozen Mayweather hangers-on. One of the Mayweather crowd could be heard saying: “What happened, you’re not tough anymore, since your loss? What happened since your loss? Are we gonna bust him up guys?”
A clearly spooked Paul could be seen backing up tentatively before fleeing in a full sprint. A member of the Mayweather entourage could be heard shouting, “He’s running!”
The 26-year-old Paul, who just lost his first professional boxing match on February 26 against Tommy Fury, took to Instagram shortly after the incident to explain his side of the story.
“So I’m leaving the Miami Heat game and Floyd Mayweather and 50 dudes pull up out of nowhere, out of like some side alley, waiting for me outside the stadium, and they’re like, ‘So what’s up? what’s all that talk now?’
“I’m like, ‘First of all, what did I say to you Floyd? I just took your hat and you’re still mad about it? Come on, bro’. And then 50 dudes literally start surrounding me to jump me, and I’m out that b***h, ok?
“You wanna run it one on one, no problem. But I’m not dumb. Okay? I’m tough, I don’t need to prove my toughness., but I’m not f*****g dumb. I’m not gonna sit there and try to fight 50 dudes.”
The bad blood between Paul and Mayweather started back in 2021, during the lead-in to Mayweather’s exhibition bout with Jake’s brother Logan Paul. During a press event to hype that bout, Jake Paul had a staredown with the retired 5-division world champ and proceeded to snatch the baseball cap off Mayweather’s head and try to run off with it. A scuffle ensued between both camps and there were some blows thrown. Paul, himself, got a little bloodied up in the tussle.
Jake Paul would hop back on social media after this Miami incident and try to turn this mess into an earnable moment by beating the drums for a one-on-one bout with Mayweather.
“Floyd if you want to fight 1 on 1 we can do that,” Paul wrote on Twitter, “but don’t try to hop out of 3 cars 25 dudes deep tryna to jump me while I’m tryna enjoy my Wednesday night.”
“Floyd will not see me 1 on 1 in a real fight,” Paul added. “That’s a fact. His team has hit my team numerous times to do one of his ‘exhibitions’. Now he ambushes me. Come see me in the ring, real fight, no exhibition robbing fans bullshit.”
There actually has been some buzz about a Mayweather-Jake Paul bout over the last couple years. Mayweather, however, insists that the only way he’d meet Paul is in an exhibition.
“We spoke to Jake Paul before,” Mayweather said at a recent press conference, when he was hyping his exhibition bout with UK reality TV star and former MMA fighter Aaron Chalmers, “and we can only do an exhibition because of the weight disadvantage. I’m not chasing it anymore. I have accomplished everything I could in boxing. We have so many young fighters in boxing today.
“Give them a chance to go out there so they can shine. It’s not about Jake Paul, it’s not about Floyd Mayweather. I’m going to entertain the people so support me and my opponent.”
