Kickboxer, social media personality and alleged human trafficker Andrew Tate is, unsurprisingly, willing to fight Jake Paul.
‘If he needs to be taught a lesson, I’ll be the guy to teach him a lesson,’ the 37-year-old American-British dual citizen said on his podcast.
Of course, Tate’s interest in Paul has less to do with teaching the 27-year-old a ‘lesson’ than it does with his earning potential. Tate is encouraged by the former YouTuber’s profitable boxing career after seeing Paul generate $18.1 million in ticket sales as 65 million households tune in to see his lackluster fight with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson.
‘Jake’s an okay guy, he’s putting boxing on the map, to be fair to the guy, he can sell tickets,’ Tate said of Paul, whom he considers a ‘good guy.’
‘Nobody should give a s*** about watching a 60-year-old fight a 27-year-old but Jake can make them care, and because he makes them care he gets paid more than most boxers will ever make their entire careers for one fight,’ Tate added.
Paul earned a reported $40 million for his bout with Tyson, who is said to have made $20 million for the eight-round affair. These figures remain unconfirmed.
As for actually getting in the ring with Paul, Tate may have to get in line. IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and undisputed light-heavyweight champ Artur Beterbiev have already called out the ‘influencer boxer.’
Only unlike Beterbiev, the undefeated knockout artist coming off a majority-decision win over Dmitry Bivol, Dubois seems to hold some appeal for Paul.
‘But f*** it … I’m going to have [promoter] Nakisa [Bidarian] talk to [Frank] Warren and get you in line for the throne,’ Paul wrote on X. ‘Unlike Artur [Beterbiev] at least you have a few thousand fans.’
Andrew Tate says that he could fight and teach Jake Paul a lesson after his case is over 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/D8kWKaHa1w
— Tate Updates (@tateupdatesx) November 17, 2024
As for Tate, he says he’s spoken with Paul, but is unsure if they’ll be able to strike a deal.
‘We’ll see what happens in the future,’ Tate said. ‘It’s possible, because nothing’s ‘no.’ Nothing’s ‘yes.’
Besides, Tate has his own problems in Bucharest, where a Romanian court ruled prosecutors’ rape and human trafficking indictment against the kickboxer contained multiple irregularities.
The ruling by the Bucharest Court of Appeal is a major setback for Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, which must act within five days.
The appeals court also ordered that some evidence be removed. Its decision comes nearly two years after Tate, 37, and his brother Tristan Tate, 36, were arrested along with two Romanian women near the capital.
Romanian prosecutors formally indicted all four last year. In April, the Bucharest Tribunal ruled that a trial could start but did not set a date.
All four deny all of the allegations.
‘This is a monumental victory for our clients, who have maintained their innocence from the beginning,’ said Eugen Vidineac, one of the brothers’ lawyers. ‘The court’s decision to exclude key evidence and demand rectification of the indictment demonstrates the lack of substantiated claims against them.’
There was no immediate statement by prosecutors.
The appeals court ruled it identified multiple flaws in the prosecutors’ case file against the Tates, saying prosecutors had failed to adequately explain the charges against Andrew to one alleged female victim, and that the charges against the female suspects were not properly presented. It said the indictment failed to specify the amounts related to the confiscation of assets in the case.
The court ordered some evidence removed including witness statements by two alleged victims and witness statements made by Andrew and Tristan, which were deemed inadmissible. The court did not say why.
After the ruling, Andrew Tate, a former kickboxer and dual British-U.S. citizen who has amassed over 10 million followers on the social media platform X, said: ‘The prosecution knew they were lies. We knew they were lies.’
In August, DIICOT launched a second case against the Tate brothers investigating allegations of human trafficking, the trafficking of minors, sexual intercourse with a minor, influencing statements and money laundering. They have denied all of the charges. Tuesday’s ruling doesn’t affect this case.
In March, the Tate brothers appeared at the Bucharest Court of Appeal in a separate case after British authorities issued arrest warrants over allegations of sexual aggression in a U.K. case dating back to 2012-2015.
The appeals court granted the British request to extradite the Tates, but only after legal proceedings in Romania have concluded.
