Who’s Ryan Bourland facing Jake Paul on Amanda Serrano co-main event?

Jake Paul’s next opponent Ryan Bourland has once again sparked controversy in the boxing community. This upcoming fight will mark Paul’s first since signing a deal with USA Boxing for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In his recent bout against Andre August, Paul secured a comfortable victory with a first-round brutal knockout.

Unlike other crossover boxers like KSI and Logan Paul, Jake Paul has taken it upon himself to build his boxing career through traditional means. Rumors swirled of a rematch with Tommy Fury but according to Logan and Jake Paul, Fury has declined the fight.

Ryan Bourland facing Jake Paul: Who is he?

The selection of Ryan Bourland by Jake Paul was met with skepticism by the boxing community as Bourland is a former boxer who now works on oil rigs. Known as “The Rhino”, Bourland is scheduled to face Jake Paul on March 2nd in Puerto Rico in the co-main event of event headlined by Amanda Serrano, the 2023 Women’s Fighter of the Year, and Nina Meinke.

Ryan Bourland retired from boxing in 2018 and transitioned to working in the Oil Rigs of North Dakota, aiming for financial stability beyond the boxing ring. Despite his exit, he was a former Golden Gloves champion and, at the time of his initial retirement, held a professional boxing record of 17-2, featuring 6 knockouts.

Ryan Bourland came back from retirement in 2022 and scored a 3rd KO/TKO over Santario Martin who also happens to have a KO loss to Andre August, Jake Paul’s latest victim. Despite returning from a four-year retirement, Bourland headlined the bout with Santario Martin. Now at the age of 35, Bourland aims to halt Jake Paul’s rise in the professional boxing circuit.

In the initial years of his boxing career, Jake Paul wreaked havoc over veteran MMA fighters like Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, and Nate Diaz. Now signed with the PFL, Paul has plans to make his MMA debut against Nate Diaz, but Diaz has declined the offer.

Boxing fans claim Jake Paul “cherry picked” his opponent

Even before Jake Paul entered the boxing arena, he had a considerable number of haters. Some argue that Paul’s choice of opponent in Bourland is ‘cherry-picked’. Social media has become a platform for both opposition and occasional support for ‘The Problem Child’.

One fan commented on X, saying, “he has 1 fight the last 6 years 😂,” making a basic accusation. It’s important to note that Bourland was indeed on retirement and made a comeback in 2022 after six years.

“Cherry picking his opponents as usual 😂”, commented another fan. Pauls has been facing the accusation ever since he fought Ben Askren in boxing. Asrken, a former welterweight champion at Bellator and One Championship has a weak striking game, and many claimed that was the reason for Paul boxing Askren.

“2021 – 2023: Jake Paul, beats Combat goats/veterans and people beg him to take a “real” traditional route”, commented one fan who blatantly stated the hypocrisy of Jake Paul haters. “Jake Paul, takes traditional route, now people say they don’t care and still try to discredit every opponent even though he’s doing what the public begged him to do 🤣”, the fan further added as he went on to criticize the double standards.

“Is this really Jake Paul’s “big challenge” or just another cherry-picked opponent for him?”, commented a confused fan. Having Ryan Bourland as Jake Paul’s opponent has confused some fans as it is difficult to gauge whether he could pose a challenge to Paul.

What do you think of Ryan Bourland as Jake Paul’s next opponent? Leave your thoughts below!