Jake Paul didn’t make any new friends in Paris as he prepares to face France’s Cedric Doumbe.
“The Problem Child” returns to the boxing ring for the first time since having his jaw broken by Anthony Joshua 12 months ago when he faces Doumbe on Dec. 24 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. Paul and Doumbe had their first chance to talk trash and face off at a press conference Tuesday, and the French fans in attendance were more than happy to give Paul a piece of their mind.
Greeted by a chorus of boos, Paul immediately fired back, referencing the recent riots that occurred in Paris as a result of civil unrest.
“Why are y’all booing, Paris?” Paul said. “You should boo yourself. Didn’t this place burn down? This could have been a Zoom call. Why the f*ck are we here? What is this?”
“My great grandpa died in World War 2. Boo yourselves, we saved your b*tch-asses. Shut the f*ck up, Paris. Without me and my family, y’all wouldn’t f*cking be here. Shut y’all b*tch-ass up.”
On several occasions throughout the press conference, Paul was greeted by loud chants of “F*ck you,” to which he replied in kind.
“Your mom did,” Paul said. “Shut the f*ck up, France. We’re trying to have a press conference here. I’ve seen who you root for. I’ve heard boos way louder than this. Please.”
When Doumbe had the chance to speak, he downplayed the threat that Paul presents. Though Paul has more boxing experience and will have a noticeable size advantage on fight night, Doumbe has excelled in both kickboxing and MMA, and he expects Paul to be easy work.
“I do nothing,” Doumbe said. “I just watch video, I just watch this clown fight. I don’t really do nothing. I have everything to beat this guy. This guy is a joke. He’s a very great YouTuber, but he’s not a fighter. He’s not even a good boxer.
“I just need to lose weight to face this guy. … I’m not training to beat him. I’m training to lose weight and to step up to the scale. I’m not training to avoid any of his skills. He doesn’t have anything.”
Doumbe joked that since Paul and Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian are calling the shots for the Dec. 24 event, he’s essentially getting paid to beat up his boss.
“I want to thank Nakisa, he’s the boss, and Jake, he’s the boss, too,” Doumbe said. “I want to thank Nakisa because that’s the first time I will face my boss and knock him out. My boss pays me to knock him the f*ck out, that’s crazy.”
Following the initial portion of the press conference, reporters were given the opportunity to ask questions, which included one about Paul’s “Before I rest…” list that he recently shared on social media.
Paul’s list included several well-known combat sports stars including Canelo Alvarez, Conor McGregor, Ryan Garcia, Darren Till, and Nate Diaz, but Doumbe was not mentioned. He explained his reasoning for the matchup.
“He has all of these fans, he’s a big name he’s a world champion,” Paul said. “He’s one of the best kickboxers, one of the best MMA fighters. He’s young, still on top, he has a big following, and I have said it before and I’ll say it every single time: I’ll fight anyone, anytime, anyplace, and this is the fight that lined up and made the most sense. He’s Muslim, we’re going to Dubai, it’s going to be a movie.
“It doesn’t get better than this. I’m very excited. He’s the perfect opponent for me.”
For the most part, Paul mixed in praise for Doumbe while also sneaking in disses at his opponent and the Paris fans. On the other side, Doumbe continued to show little respect for Paul’s fighting skills.
“Which round I will choose to knock him out?” Doumbe said. “I used to knock people out in the second round, because first round, warm up, second round, my shape, my conditioning, everything is good. But my coach told me that he wants a small death. He wants me to play with him and to show him what is the real boxing.
“So I don’t know, I have two options: I knock him out in the second round or I knock him out in the seventh or eighth round. I don’t know, I will see.”
One thing is for sure, Paul should be glad his fight with Doumbe is happening in Dubai and not Paris, because the crowd had little interest in hearing what he had to say and would likely be even more volatile on fight night.
“Actions speak louder than words, they’ll see, Dec. 24,” Paul said. “Just like their city burned down, I’m going to burn this guy to the ground.”
