Jake Paul was sitting in the stands at Staples Center on Nov. 9 when his brother, Logan, fought fellow social media star KSI. He didn't watch the fight in happiness, but in disgust with what happened in the ring as KSI won by split decision.
"Watching the fight… it was painful, Paul said on "40 Days: Jake Paul vs. Gib" ahead of his bout on Thursday against YouTuber AnEnson Gib, live on DAZN. "I was sitting in the stands like, ‘What are you doing, Logan? This is not anything you did in sparring. You’re fighting sloppy. And if I was in that ring right now, I would be beating his ass.’
"Logan and I are connected in so many ways. That’s why when he lost, I felt like I lost. That’s why I got so emotional.”
In the locker room after the fight concluded, Jake Paul was crying the locker room because he was disappointed in how everything went down. He told Logan, ‘Bro, I said it last year, and I’ll say it again, if I was in that ring this year, I would have won the fight.' But a conversation occurred in the same locker room in which big brother gave little brother a mission statement.
“Logan literally grabbed me by the neck, and he goes, ‘You have to do everything that you possibly can to beat KSI. You have to do it for our family name. I need you to understand how important that is that you do that'," Paul said.
To prepare for the Gib fight, Paul has entrusted former three-division world champion Shane Mosley, who's one of the newest members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame, to lead his training camp. Paul has gone to Mosley's home and training facility at Big Bear, Calif., to prepare for Gib. He's gone through the rigors, including jumping in a frozen lake to practice deep breathing to help put his body in uncomfortable situations.
“Jake is so dedicated, the most dedicated that I’ve ever seen him into anything," Logan Paul said. "No distractions. It’s terrifying. I don’t know if it's healthy. It’s tunnel vision with one thing in mind."
Even though his brother and others feel he should run through Gib, Paul isn't looking past him because nothing is ever a given. If he does his job, then he'll get what he's looking for and try to exact revenge.
"I don’t look past anybody," Paul said. "Everyone is a worthy opponent. It’s boxing. But I know I’m going to f—ing win. “I can’t say it with any more confidence. I don’t know where Gib’s level is at. He’s going to get walked through and then it’s on to KSI."
"40 Days" looks at Paul and Gib and their road to their fight on Jan. 30. DAZN takes viewers from Paul’s rise to stardom via Vine and YouTube to his training camp for the upcoming fight. Meanwhile, Gib’s path to overcoming obesity are detailed as he trains in Las Vegas with professional fighter and KSI’s head trainer Viddal Riley.
You can watch "40 Days" in the video player at the top of this article, or on DAZN's YouTube channel.