When Anthony Taylor met Jake Paul, he was a struggling MMA fighter who was making one last push for the UFC.
He had turned his career around from journeyman to legitimate prospect, but the coronavirus pandemic had put a complete halt to his plans. A win over Chris Avila in Bellator was his fifth in a row, and discussions had been held about a potential debut in the sport’s biggest promotion.
But when he was offered the chance to join Team Paul as a sparring partner for his first fight with Tyron Woodley, the California native took a major risk. And it has now paid off as he solidified himself as one of the stars of Misfits Boxing, headlining his first show this Saturday night on DAZN against Darren Till.
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Anthony Taylor joined Jake Paul’s team in the summer of 2021
Amid a cloud of uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic, Anthony Taylor was active on social media desperately calling out for fights with anyone and everyone. He was something of a known troll in hardcore MMA circles, but was struggling to get a major opportunity in the new-look world.
However, that all changed in April of 2021 when a callout to Jake Paul on Twitter was surprisingly answered by his coach BJ Flores. He was invited to fly across America from California to Miami on his own dime, where Paul was training to fight Ben Askren, and spar for free in order to show his mettle.
To Flores’ surprise, Taylor arrived for the final day of sparring and gave what he could for four rounds before being replaced by a new partner. A few weeks later, he was called up to fly to Puerto Rico and join Paul as a key sparring partner for his first fight with Tyron Woodley.
It ended up spelling the end of his MMA career as he chose to pursue the influencer boxing world instead of taking a fight with veteran Jim Alers. “Jake Paul was paying me $2,500 a week for 3 to 4 months straight,” he told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat.
“That’s $10,000 a month. Come on, bro. Cage Warriors were offering me $1,500 to find a guy who, who used to be in the UFC. Of course, I turned it down to make $2500 a week. Why wouldn’t I? Like, come on.”
It turned out that the move was the right one; Paul rewarded him for his character in training with a fight against Tommy Fury on the Woodley undercard which paid him another $40,000. It was a career-high payday for Taylor, and he has parlayed it into a career in the Misfits Boxing world.
He is now Misfits light-heavyweight champion, and has fought around the world landing memorable wins over the likes of Salt Papi, Gabriel Silva and Karate Combat’s Samuel Ericsson. It comes to a head on Saturday night when he faces former UFC title contender Till at the Co-Op Live in Manchester.
Now, Anthony Taylor wants to fight Jake Paul for real
However, he doesn’t view the Till fight as the end of a great journey, but the beginning of his move to a next step in the boxing world. After learning MMA from the legendary Antonio McKee, he has set his attentions fully on boxing under the tutelage of Chris Lopez.
“It didn’t matter where I was at in my life,” he notes, listing off potential opponents. “I knew I was going to be successful and I knew I was going to fight one of those guys. I was this close of me and Tyron Woodley fighting in Qatar. We were this close. It’s crazy how I’m fighting an ex-UFC champion.
“It’s crazy how I’m fighting Tyson Fury’s little brother. It’s crazy how I’m sparring Jake Paul, the biggest influencer in the world. It’s crazy how I was going to fight KSI, you know? It’s crazy how I sparred Logan Paul. The Rock retweeted my tweet doing the people’s elbow.
“I did a viral video with me and Floyd Mayweather, you know, these things, they’re inevitable. I put forth the effort and manifest these moments and look, sooner or later I’m going to end up fighting Floyd Mayweather.”
But the end game would be an actual fight with Jake Paul himself. The pair shared countless rounds together in the ring sparring in 2021, but both have developed their styles significantly in the meantime.
Paul has never been overly complimentary of Taylor’s skills, telling Bloody Elbow last summer that he felt his old teammate was “sloppy” and questioning if he would have beaten KSI in their cancelled bout on Misfits in Dublin.
However, Taylor is confident of what he can do. “Yes, I, I love my brother Jake Paul,” he continued. “There’s nothing but love and opportunity. I have no hate or ill will toward Jake. My boy J’Leon [Love, Paul’s trainer], that’s my homie, that’s my road dog right there.
“Jake, look, man, we have unfinished business and it’s about the money, currency over legacy, baby. Let’s get it. Look, when you think of the resume, I’ve been in there just as much as he has. I won the Misfits Boxing world championship.
“Yeah, I’m 35, but I’ve beaten some really cool guys. I’m going to beat Darren Till that he talked about potentially fighting Darren Till… Everybody will back this fight up: Misfits will back this fight up, the KSI fans will back this fight up. Jake Paul fans will fancy this fight.
“They will be like ‘well, at least, even though AT is older, he’s been active, he’s been fighting, he’s not scared to fight’… And look, I know how to beat Jake Paul from being in there with him. We can fight at whatever weight. If he wants to come in at 200lb, let him come in at 200lb. I’m coming in at 176, 177.
“The fans want to see Jake Paul fight somebody, why not fight somebody who’s very familiar with him and who has such as a social media presence as me. If he’s not fighting KSI, I’m the only guy he should be fighting next.
“No one gives a crap about Julio Cesar Chavez Junior. No one cares if he decides to fight him. They want to see an active person, the Misfits champion.
“There’s millions of Misfits fans out there who would back me up, who will support and watch his pay per view. I personally think me and Jake Paul just over 700,000 pay per view buys. That would be a pretty special fight.”
Anthony Taylor faces Darren Till in the main event of Misfits Boxing and DAZN’s X-Series 20 at the Co-Op Live in Manchester on Saturday night. IViewers can watch on DAZN live from 7pm GMT or buy tickets on Ticketmaster.co.uk.