Jake Paul had the game face on, while Ben Askren went with the dad bod and a chill attitude at the weigh in today in Atlanta for the Saturday showcase for the You Tuber, who is stepping up in class from his last foe.
Down went Nate Robinson on the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones PPV undercard last year, but can Paul, the Ohio upstart, do the same to a person who has made fighting, not hoops, a career?
Askren scaled in at 191 pounds, a jumbo step up from the 170 pounds or less class he participated in while doing MMA. Paul was 191.5, while his trainer, ex pro BJ Flores, and a massive robot-costumed man, his mascot, looked on. Paul told emcee Ray Flores that he thinks Askren isn’t taking this challenge seriously, as evidenced by the soft midsection. “I don’t think he makes it out of two rounds,” Paul stated. Askren tried to get in the last word, busting on Paul’s hairline as Jake left the stage.
You can whet your appetite with a free-view hour, and then the PPV kicks off at 9 PM ET.
Check out the whole weigh in, see below:
QUICK FACTS
Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren Headlines Triller Fight Club’s First Professional Boxing Card April 17 At Mercedes-Benz Stadium In Atlanta
Undercard Features Regis Prograis vs. Ivan Redkach, Steve Cunningham vs. Frank Mir, Joe Fournier vs. Reykon And More
Entertainment Lineup Includes Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Doja Cat, Saweetie, Diplo, Major Lazer, Premiere of Hip Hop Supergroup Mt. Westmore (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too $hort and E-40)
For its debut professional boxing event Triller Fight Club in 2021 will have a world-class lineup in the ring and a superstar-laden slate of entertainment on April 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
In the headline matchup, YouTube sensation Jake Paul, whose knockout against former professional athlete NateRobinson set all kinds of records for fan engagement, meets former Bellator and OneFC Championship champion Ben Askren, with all bouts seen on the main Pay Per View card.
Triller Fight Club is a partnership between leading music and social media platform Triller and Snoop Dogg, and is spearheaded by visionary producer Ryan Kavanaugh.
The undercard includes an intriguing matchup between veteran super lightweight Regis Prograis (New Orleans), a former world champion and arguably one of the top two super lightweights in the world, and Ivan Redkach (Shostka, Ukraine); heavyweight MMA Bad Boy Frank Mir (Las Vegas) vs. Steve Cunningham (Philadelphia); Joe Fournier (London) challenging music icon and worldwide star Reykon (Envigado, Colombia); super middleweights Junior Younan (Brooklyn, N.Y.) vs. Jeysen Minda (Quito, Ecuador); middleweight Lorenzo “Truck” Simpson (Baltimore) vs. Francisco Torres (Buenos Aires); and unbeaten welterweight Quinton Randall (Houston) vs. William Jackson (Cincinnati).
The lineup for the four-hour Pay Per View show will include performances by Justin Bieber, The Black Keys, Doja Cat, Saweetie, Diplo, Major Lazer, and the exclusive world premiere of the hip hop supergroup Mt. Westmore (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Too $hort and E-40) performing for their first time ever together.
Bieber!
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Bert Marcus will lead and direct the creative storytelling for the Triller Fight Club event.
The lead up to April 17 officially also includes an original series exclusively on Triller and FITE. “PRBLM CHILD” is a raw, all-access look into the life of one of the world’s most polarizing and controversial personalities, YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul, as he trains for his fight vs. Askren. The series also will include boxing legends Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Ryan Garcia, Jorge Masvidal and Snoop Dogg, among many more.
iNDemand, the leading transactional video-on-demand and PPV programming provider in North America, will serve as the exclusive U.S. and Canadian cable, satellite, and telco PPV provider for the event. Fans will be able to order the event on PPV through their existing cable, satellite and telco PPV providers, including Xfinity, Spectrum, Contour, Fios, and Optimum in the U.S., as well as leading providers in Canada.
FITE, the premier PPV digital platform, will handle worldwide live pay-per-view streaming distribution online, and via FITE mobile and Smart TV apps, game controllers and all major OTT devices as well as power TrillerFightClub.com.
The suggested PPV retail price for the event is $49.99 (U.S. & Canada). Fans outside North America can check the FITE link at https://www.fite.tv/watch/jake-paul-vs-ben-askren/2p8y0/ for international pricing. All fight information can be found at TrillerFightClub.com, which features fight news, announcements, promotional videos, and the digital portal to buy the event.
Founder/editor Michael Woods got addicted to boxing in 1990, when Buster Douglas shocked the world with his demolition of the then-impregnable Mike Tyson.
The Brooklyn-based journalist has covered the sport since for ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Bad Left Hook and RING. His journalism career started with NY Newsday in 1999.
Michael Woods is also an accomplished blow by blow and color man, having done work for Top Rank, DiBella Entertainment, EPIX, and for Facebook Fightnight Live, since 2017.