Jake Paul Offers Will Smith and Chris Rock $15 Million Each to Box

Jake Paul is offering upwards of $30 million for Will Smith and Chris Rock to take their big fight at the 2022 Oscars and make it an official box match event. As the waves of social media reactions rolled in about the “Slap Heard ‘Round the World,” one that went viral was from Impractical Jokers star Sal Vulcano, who joked that he wanted to know the “Over/under on how much Jake Paul is gonna offer Chris Rock and Will Smith for a boxing PPV?”

Well, turns out Jake paul actually had an answer to that question: “I got $15m for Will Smith and $15m for Chris Rock ready to go, Let’s do it in August on my undercard”. He then added, “Someone get me on the phone with Will Smiths boxing representative asap”. 

Jake Paul and his brother Logan Paul have become modern successors to Vince McMahon and his wrestling pay-per-view empire. As amateur boxers, the Paul Brothers have staged high-profile fights like Logan’s bout with Floyd Mayweather, or Jake Paul’s bout with MMA fighter Tyron Woodley in December, which ended in a sixth-round KO by Paul, who remains undefeated. 

More than the actual sporting events, the Paul Brothers have become masters at hyping their various media spectacles. Whether it’s the YouTube content that first launched them to stardom, the new sports media events they’ve pioneered, or the various controversies they’ve turned into PR boosts, the siblings certainly know how to get the public’s attention as few others can. 

That all said: it’s hard to imagine any universe where Will Smith and Chris Rock box for Jake and Logan Paul’s amusement (and profit). 

The effect of Will Smith hitting Chris Rock continues to ripple across media and culture. Various regular viewers of the Oscars as well as celebrities and those associated with the industry have all weighed in on social media; according to Sean “Diddy” Combs, Rock and Smith made up after the Oscars ceremony, and all is well again. However, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is launching a formal review of the incident. There’s a lot of speculation about whether Smith’s assault could disqualify him from the Best Actor Oscar he just won for King Richard. So far, there’s no indication that will be the case.

“The Academy condemns the actions of Mr. Smith at last night’s show. We have officially started a formal review around the incident and will explore further action and consequences in accordance with our Bylaws, Standards of Conduct and California law,” said a spokesperson for The Academy.