Sports
Who will Jake Paul fight next — a boxer, athlete or celebrity — and when? MVP exec talks options
The last fight for Jake Paul was a global phenomenon.
An estimated 108-million live viewers in around 65 million households worldwide tuned in to Netflix last month to see the influencer-turned-boxer defeat legendary fighter Mike Tyson in a unanimous decision, making it the most-streamed sporting event.
Paul, 27, and Tyson, 58, reportedly made tens of millions of dollars from the event in Texas.
It’s only a slight exaggeration to say that everybody wants to be the next person to face Paul (11-1, 7 KOs).
“It’s boxers, it’s athletes, it’s celebrities — pretty much everyone in the world wants to challenge Jake Paul at this point in time, which is pretty remarkable just four years into his career and 12 fights as a professional,” said Nakisa Bidarian, who co-founded and runs Most Valuable Promotions with Paul.
So who will it be? And which platform will get to air the next fight that may attract millions of more eyeballs? Bidarian couldn’t say — not because it’s a closely guarded secret, but because those decisions have yet to be made.
“We’re definitely still looking at what the options are,” Bidarian said. “It starts with getting to an alignment with MVP, Jake and the rest of the company on where we’re going to put our product going forward. We obviously have been very successful with DAZN, we’ve been very successful with Netflix, we’ve been successful on pretty much every platform that we’ve been on.
“And now we’re at a point in time where we want to have a long-term media rights partner. Part of that would include Jake Paul, part of that would include Amanda Serrano and the rest of the MVP roster that we’re building. And then once we have that, we can then determine what’s the next appropriate step for Jake based on his career path, ambitions and aspirations.”
Bidarian offered some insight into those decisions, a time frame for when Paul’s next fight will take place, the massive success of the Tyson fight and more during a phone interview Thursday.
(The questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity)
What is the thought process in determining Paul’s next opponent?
It’s a very unique set of circumstances. We’re at a point in the sport of boxing where there is definitely a transition from the old guard to the new guard. Whether it’s Tyson Fury and [Oleksandr] Usyk, who are fighting in a couple of weeks, whether it’s Anthony Joshua or whether it’s Canelo [Álvarez] — any big name in the sport you can think of, they’re all getting to a point where their prime may be fading. When you look at the next generation, there’s really three names in the U.S. from my perspective. One, by a longshot, being Jake, that no one comes close to. And then there’s two other guys who’ve called out Jake — [Gervonta] “Tank” Davis and Ryan Garcia.
Jake’s never been in a more fortunate position in terms of demand, and when I say demand I mean in terms of distribution partners that want to work with him and MVP and also in terms of fighters that want to share the ring with him because they understand the kind of box office and attention that he drives.
Jake has two paths that he’s focused on. The most important path to him is to become a world champion. … He’s going to continue on the path to grow as a boxer, increasing the level of competition to then get to the point where he can challenge for a championship. And then he’s also going to look to do these disruptive, big events which … are still gonna be very competitive. Very, very competitive.
Is there any particular opponent that might pique his interest over the other possibilities?
I think we’re just evaluating. Part of when you have so much success is, you know, the biggest names are calling him out, but everyone has an expectation that is I’m gonna make tens of millions of dollars to fight Jake Paul. And we pay people very well and we want to be in a business that is profitable for all parties, but we’re not gonna do things that don’t make economic sense. So part of the process is understanding what opponents are realistic.
Is there a timetable in mind for Jake’s next fight?
We’re holding dates in different cities starting in mid-April all the way through mid-July, so giving ourselves the flexibility to have him return anywhere from April to July.
Were you expecting the Tyson fight to generate as much interest as it did?
I think what surprised us was how the entire world was interacting with this event. Seventy-eight countries on Netflix, it’s the No. 1 piece of content. There’s no piece of content like that that exists. It just doesn’t happen. ‘Cause even the World Cup final, there’s two countries that are highly engaged and there’s a lot of countries that don’t care. The Olympics on any given day there’s different competitions and different teams and different rounds that pique and don’t pique interest. So we had something that — you know, Super Bowl, unbelievable viewership, but highly concentrated.
It was the first time — I heard this from multiple journalists — where journalists’ mothers, women who were in their 50s, 60s, 70s, were talking to the journalists’ children about a fight. That just doesn’t happen. So that was a very special combination when you connected to different audiences of these two guys and what it meant.
Did any of this even seem possible just a few years ago?
When we started MVP in August of 2021, we certainly had a vision of doing big, disruptive things. And if you look at Jake’s events, no matter how you slice ‘em, if you look at pure global interest, pure social media, they’re the biggest events outside of the Super Bowl. The amount of people who want to view and see what he’s up to is pretty phenomenal. And we do that with the right match making and bringing different audiences together. But did we think that we could within three years partner with the biggest media platform in the world and effectively break the internet? No.
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CM Punk appeared on “Friday Night SmackDown” ready to take on any challenger that was ready to step to him after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn.
Punk entered the ring in Oklahoma City and called back to the “Monday Night Raw” after WrestleMania 42 when he told Cody Rhodes he’d be ready to deliver if a championship opportunity fell “out of the sky.”
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Cody Rhodes and CM Punk face off during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)
“When championship opportunities fall out of the sky, CM Punk catches them,” he said.
Punk named potential SmackDown superstars he’d think might come for the title, including Gunther, Finn Balor, Royce Keys, Damian Priest and Trick Williams. He even said that Zayn could come back around and get his rematch if he wanted. He didn’t mention Rhodes’ name, but the “American Nightmare” came out uncalled and marched his way down to the ring.
“I don’t think you and I can run away from each other anymore,” Punk told Rhodes.
Cody Rhodes looks on during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Craig Ambrosio/WWE via Getty Images)
Rhodes agreed and mentioned that Punk would want a match with him, just “say when.” It was a quick retort from Punk, who said, “when.” SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis, who was in the ring for the segment, booked the match for SummerSlam.
Punk will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam, which takes place Aug. 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
First, however, Punk and Rhodes will be involved in a tag team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City next week. Aldis made the match after Gunther demanded that Aldis put him in a match against Punk. Gunther was hoping it would be for the championship. Instead, Gunther will tag with Zayn.
Gunther didn’t take too kindly to that and attacked Aldis. Rhodes came back out to break up the calamity. He wanted to take on Gunther after the show went off air but Gunther walked away.
Gunther makes his entrance during SmackDown at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla., on July 10, 2026. (Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images)
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Punk definitely has his hands full as he moves to SmackDown to become a fighting champion.
World Cup tourists are coming to L.A. for the soccer, but they’re staying for the $21 smoothies and Double-Doubles.
As the last Los Angeles FIFA World Cup event ended Friday, soccer fans were eating like locals and famous chains from the region were cashing in.
In the weeks that L.A. has hosted the World Cup, international soccer enthusiasts have flocked to big brands from the area, often in large groups wearing their countries’ jerseys.
It is a phenomenon seen at many of the host cities. In Dallas, giant gas station Buc-ee’s is the main attraction. For people visiting New Jersey, deli shops have been a hot ticket. In L.A., the place to be between matches was Erewhon.
Thirsty international sports fans gathered for pictures outside different Erewhons, wandered their aisles smiling, and, of course, picked up pricey smoothies.
While Erewhon would not comment on its business, mobility data company Arity, which uses phone data to track consumers, said Erewhon visits at the outlets around SoFi Stadium were quadruple what they were a week earlier on June 12, the day of the U.S. national soccer team’s opening match there.
Arity looked at what stores people visited within a 10-mile radius of SoFi that day and also found surges in visitors to nearby El Pollo Loco and Trader Joe’s.
Locals have spotted groups of people in Korea jerseys huddled together, trying to decide what to order at In-N-Out.
Some complained on social media that international tourists at Trader Joe’s were buying up all the mini canvas tote bags.
Soon after the Belgium vs. Spain quarterfinal ended Friday, the In-N-Out near SoFi had a long line of soccer fans stretching out the door in bright red and yellow and black jerseys and matching striped hats and scarves.
One of the workers said he had to explain “spread” and “animal style” to foreign football fans.
“I didn’t know this place existed,” a fan from Romania said while waiting in line.
Los Angeles and other cities and states that have hosted the event need the soccer fans to spend money to make the event worth all the time, effort and money it requires.
A rosy 2024 report projected the World Cup could bring more than $800 million to the L.A. region as 180,000 people converge on the area to sleep, eat and spend.
There were early concerns people weren’t turning up for the event because of the high ticket prices and the difficulty of obtaining visas for citizens of some countries.
However, at least for some L.A. hotels, there was a surge of last-minute visitors which pushed up occupancy and room rates.
While sports fans are not in the region to shop, they do make time for it.
World Cup customer spending is also apparent in beer sales. Andrew Heritage, the chief economist at the Beer Institute said beer purchases at entertainment and attractions in L.A. – outside of World Cup spaces – were up around 10% from normal.
“That tells me that fans in the L.A. area have decided to extend their stay and take in all the other things that the area has to offer, rather than just the match itself,” he said.
On social media, the purpose of these shoppers is clear: grab a quick souvenir or local specialty and take a selfie.
The data from Arity suggests that fans are very efficient when they spend at local spots, diving in, getting what they want and getting out as soon as possible, said Jeff Schlitt, a director at the company.
“Normally you’re there for an hour. They’re going to be there for 15, 18 minutes,” he said. “Why is that? Because they were purpose-driven shoppers.”
For some travelers, the more popular American chains aren’t unfamiliar. But some of the native L.A. fare still comes as a surprise.
As one Belgium-Spain matchgoer from the Netherlands stood taking a picture of the In-N-Out sign after the game, he said he’d never had a burger like the one he’d just tried.
“We only have McDonald’s and Burger King,” he said. “It’s way better.”
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The face of baseball will not be at Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start on Friday as the Los Angeles Dodgers said he will also miss the Midsummer Classic with what the team called left knee irritation.
Ohtani, for obvious reasons, has become an All-Star Game fixture. He has earned the honor in each of the past five seasons and made his first start in 2021.
Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers warms up before the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 03, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The two-way phenom is on his way to winning his fifth MVP award in his last six seasons as he is hitting .290 with a .939 OPS and pitching to a minuscule 1.79 ERA, the second-lowest in the sport among pitchers with 80-plus innings. His OPS is also the seventh-best mark in the league.
The Dodgers said Ohtani will be the team’s designated hitter up until the break, but he will “have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season.”
Ohtani dealt with knee issues earlier in the season.
It is certainly a big hit for the game as the other face of the sport, Aaron Judge, will miss the game due to a fractured rib that has kept him out since late May.
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers gets ready in the on deck circle against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on June 01, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
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Ohtani hit 99 home runs combined in 2024 and 2025, leading the National League with a 1.025 OPS in that span. Ohtani did not pitch in 2024 after elbow surgery but returned to the bump last year and owned a 2.87 ERA and 11.9 K/9, a figure he also put up in 2022 that led the American League.
The “Japanese Babe Ruth” is the only player in MLB history to have 300-plus plate appearances and 40-plus innings in six separate seasons (Ruth only did it twice and never stole 50 bases), and he has more than excelled at both.
Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
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Ohtani is not hitting like he has in the past, but certainly the best pitching performance of his career will make up for it. He “only” has 20 homers and 56 RBI this season.
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