Paul vs. Silva Odds
You’ve got to give Jake Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) credit. The man knows how to push all the right buttons on fight fans, especially the ones from the MMA space who will begrudgingly find themselves buying a boxing pay-per-view this weekend just to see how he fares against UFC legend Anderson Silva (3-1, 2 KOs).
For a lot of those fans, this will be the kind of event they watch with gritted teeth, praying that the fight gods will not allow this arrogant YouTuber to notch a victory over the great Silva.
At the same time, the fact that Silva is a downward trending 47 while Paul is still improving into his mid-twenties is enough to remind them that, actually, such a depressing outcome is entirely possible, which might also explain why Paul comes in as -225 favorite against a man who’s forgotten more about prize fighting than he’ll ever know.
Let's dive into what we can expect to see from these two when they step into the ring.
How Much Has Jake Paul Improved in the Ring?
It’s pretty amazing that Paul has managed to have an already lucrative boxing career while the combat sports world is still stuck asking the same question: Can this guy actually fight?
Maybe that’s at least partly because of our refusal to accept the possibility that, yeah, he can. At least to a point. And still an upward trending line.
We may not have seen a ton of Paul in action, but he does appear to get much better and more comfortable each time out. He’s got a good jab that serves as the foundation for much of his offense. He hits with power and doesn’t neglect the body.
He’s still got some bad habits defensively, and has yet to improve enough that he’s anywhere near as dangerous as a counter-puncher as he is when he can feint his way to an opening and go on the attack.
But what really makes him tough to assess is that he really is still growing as a work in progress, so there’s always the possibility that he’ll show up for one fight looking much better than he did the last time.
Silva, on the other hand, is much more of a known quantity, even if boxing hasn’t been his main focus until recently. In his prime, Silva was practically a Jedi in the MMA cage, seemingly fighting from several seconds into the future.
Now, he’s closing in on 50 years old, so the reflexes (and the chin) he depended on aren’t what they once were. Still, he’s a slick counter-fighter who can make opponents look silly, and he has a knack for making people uncomfortable enough to do dumb things under pressure.
The big question is, can he still take a solid punch, especially if it comes from the strapping young lad who knocked fellow former UFC champ Tyron Woodley out cold? If not, it could be a quick (and for many MMA fans, depressing) night.
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Paul vs. Silva Pick
The cold, hard math says Paul probably wins this. He’s younger and stronger. He has some holes in his game, but he doesn’t fight stupid. He can afford to make some mistakes and still stay in the fight, while Silva probably doesn’t have the same luxury, or at least not to the same extent.
And yet, I can’t quite bring myself to bet on Paul. Not at these odds, anyway. I also can’t completely talk myself into betting on Silva to win, crafty though he may be in his advancing years.
The line I actually can feel somewhat good about, though? It’s the +144 line that FanDuel is offering on Silva to be knocked down at least once. I simply don’t trust the man’s chin at this point.
After all those years of relying on his quickness and reflexes to slip just barely out of danger while staying close enough to counter, I think there’s too great a chance he’ll miscalculate here and have to pick himself up off the canvas at least once.
