Sports

Jake Paul agrees to rule change for Gervonta Davis exhibition fight

By Jack Tanner

Copyright independent

Jake Paul agrees to rule change for Gervonta Davis exhibition fight

Jake Paul verbally agreed to a rule change for his exhibition fight with Gervonta Davis at a press conference on Tuesday night.

The duo are currently on a tour of the United States in an attempt to promote their exhibition, with their latest stop in Miami following the launch press conference in New York on Monday.

Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Nakisa Bidarian read out the rules at the initial presser, with a weight limit of 195lbs, gloves weighing 12oz, 10 three-minute rounds, and peculiarly for an exhibition bout, three ringside judges to score the contest – and produce a winner.

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Less than 24 hours after the rules were confirmed, there appears to be an alteration after Tank’s coach, Calvin Ford, posed Paul a question.

Queuing up to ask a question from the stands, Ford queried: “I’m looking at this fight, because I am his coach. This is a very serious fight, and I’m a very serious person.

“My question to you is, where the 12oz gloves come from? Why y’all couldn’t take 10(oz) – he had 8(oz), he’s already giving up 4oz of the gloves.”

Davis briefly tried to halt his coach, only for Ford to continue.

“No – I gotta say this, because y’all betting all this money,” he added after Paul and Davis had agreed to a $2million wager, shaking hands on the bet.

Ford’s question was met by a bemused Paul, who insisted that the request for heavier gloves had come from Tank’s camp.

Paul interjected: “Wait – you guys are the ones who wanted to do 12oz gloves – not me, I’ll do 8(oz). F***, I’ll do 4(oz), I’ll do 2(oz) – I’ll do bareknuckle.”

Quickly Paul, Davis, and Ford entered into a to-and-fro.

Ford said: “I wasn’t aware of that. I know that he can handle himself. If he’s the one who said that I’m going to go with that, I wasn’t aware.”

“What do you want? 10oz, 8oz?” asked Paul. “The 12oz came from you guys’ side. On god. What do you want? 10oz?”

Tank Davis offered his thoughts, claiming: “I didn’t say that. It don’t matter to me.”

“I doesn’t matter then,” restarted Paul. “So back to what I always wanted, which was 10oz, great thank you.”

Ford explained his reasoning for his initial question, adding: “I didn’t know. Because you fight in 10(oz) and he fights in 8(oz). So I’m like 12oz? Why’s he giving up 4oz?

Paul had the final word, stating: “I can show you the emails and the screenshots, you asked for 12oz. Let’s do it 10oz – that’s great. That’s going to make it more exciting for the fans, thank god – I wanted 10(oz) really badly.”

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