Dana White tells Mike Tyson he’d bet $1million that Freddie Roach-trained Ben Askren will beat Jake Paul in a boxing match, YouTuber responds by flexing own worth

Jake Paul raised the stakes ahead of his boxing match with Ben Askren by daring UFC president Dana White to put his money where his mouth is.

Paul, 2-0 as a professional boxer is looking to make it three successive wins when he meets the retired mixed martial artist in April.

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Askren has never boxed and is a renowned wrestler, who was an unbeaten world champion in ONE and Bellator but retired after a short-lived UFC career that reads 1-2.

Grappling won’t help Askren in a boxing ring and his punching power was never considered a real asset inside the octagon.

However, White - who has never been Askren’s biggest fan - is willing to bet serious money that Askren will defeat Paul.

“He talks a lot of s***,” White told the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast. “We’re going to find out. I hope you can bet on this thing because I’ll f***ing bet a million dollars that he loses this f****ing fight. A million dollars that he loses this fight.”

For a man believed to be worth around $500m, this is presumably small change and it didn’t take long for Paul to catch wind of White’s big bet and offer to double it. He also says he’s willing to pre-emptively put the sum into a bank account before the fight takes place.

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“Dana let’s double the bet up! $2m,” said Paul, who Forbes estimated to be worth around $11.5m in 2017.

White is no fan of the Paul brothers, but particularly Jake, who took aim at him when attempting to goad Conor McGregor into a big-money fight.

Now he’s excited at the prospect of Askren winning.

Askren’s stand-up game is not his forte, but has nipped across the country from Milwaukee to Los Angeles to work with legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach at his famed Wild Card gym in California in preparation for the big bout.

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“I’m only in L.A. for a week, so I’m gonna get as much as I can out of Freddie Roach,” Askren said. “I’m gonna pick his brain."

And the experience of professional fighting will play into his hands, according to White.

"Let's be honest: Jake Paul is not a f***ing boxer – this guy's a f***ing YouTube kid," he continued.

"Let me tell you about this kid. So the kid [Askren] he's going to fight is a wrestler, a real good wrestler, a decorated wrestler, but he's actually fought real guys. He's been a world champion in other organisations."

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