Jake Paul spent the morning of his biggest press conference ever gifting thousands of dollars worth of shoes to children in New York City.
The social media star-turned-boxer kicks off the press week for his upcoming fight with Gervonta Davis with a press conference tonight in Times Square. But keen not to waste the day, he was up early delivering shoes donated by GBNY to kids at a local school in Harlem.
Paul and Davis will go head-to-head twice this week; first tonight and then tomorrow at the Kaseya Center, which is the site of their November 14 showdown. However, the YouTuber worried fans early in the day as he shared a reel seeming to indicate unhappiness despite his lavish lifestyle.
Jake Paul gifts thousands of dollars worth of shoes to New York schoolkids
Jake Paul didn’t waste any time getting to work on a busy day in New York City, getting up for a 9am call at the P.S. 197 John B. Russwurm in Harlem. He met with hundreds of children, who seemed ecstatic to see him, and gifted them all new pairs of shoes which were donated by GBNY.
Paul spent the morning taking photos with fans and gifting them shoes. Sources told Bloody Elbow that he was asked by the school to be involved with the initiative and said ‘yes without question’.
He then headed into the city to train before beginning promotional duties for his meeting with Gervonta Davis. The show will be Netflix’s fourth live boxing event after staging Paul vs Mike Tyson last year as well as Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano 3 and most recently Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford.
Jake Paul worried fans with social media update ahead of Gervonta Davis showdown
The news that Paul was out and about meeting fans was good news for his followers, after he shared a worrying reel early in the day. He showed himself leaving his lavish Puerto Rican home seeming depressed, even though he was travelling in style to a luxury New York hotel.
“Things don’t feel the same anymore…” Paul wrote in the caption for his video. “I guess I’m in New York for this presser today…” He also wrote over the video: “What’s even the point?” His long-time business associate and COO Marcos Guerrero commented “It gets better I promise.”
The video was viewed over 1.2million times in just an hour, with fans theorising that it may be a response to the bout being branded an exhibition by Florida officials. Most Valuable Promotions and Netflix have already had to move the event from Atlanta to Miami due to issues getting licensed.
Executive director of the Florida Athletic Commission, Timothy Shipman, confirmed to USA Today last week that the bout will, as expected, be an exhibition due to the monstrous weight discrepancy. “You can’t do a fight like that as a pro fight,” Shipman said. “It’ll be an exhibition fight.’’
An exhibition is defined by Florida statutes as “a boxing, kickboxing, or mixed martial arts engagement in which persons participating show or display their skill without necessarily striving to win using strikes and blows to the head or other full-contact maneuvers.”