Jake Paul Curse: What’s Happened to His Opponents After Fighting Him is Strange
Anthony Joshua’s involvement in a tragic car crash in Nigeria on Monday, that killed two members of his team, has continued the strange trend that those who take to the ring against Jake Paul have something bad happen to them after the fight, and in one case, even before.
Out of the 13 people the American has laced the gloves up against, eight of them have suffered some sort of misfortune since fighting him.
The bad hands include three near-death experiences, falling out of the public eye entirely, a personal life falling apart, a declaration of bankruptcy, and a deportation.
Nate Robinson
The former basketball player, who became an NBA champion with the Miami Heat in 2013, was Paul’s second professional opponent, facing him in November 2020. He didn’t put up much resistance, however, as he was knocked out cold in the second round.
Since the defeat, Robinson has fallen off the face of the earth when it comes to the public eye, as nobody has heard from him in any form. Maybe he chose to keep a low profile to avoid the backlash following the knockout.
Ben Askren
In the lead-up to Ben Askren’s fight with Jake Paul in April 2021, there was a lot expected of the former, based off him being an ex-UFC fighter. However, he didn’t see the second round and was stopped in 119 seconds in what was quite embarrassing given it was just Paul’s third professional bout.
If the loss wasn’t enough for him to deal with, it had clearly taken more out of him than what was apparent on the surface, as four years later, Askren then had lung failure in mid-2025 and nearly died, only surviving after a vital transplant.
Tyron Woodley
The former UFC welterweight champion faced The Problem Child twice and lost both times, the second of which was a flush knockout in the sixth round. The reason why he took the two fights may be explained by the fact that it’s reported that following the two defeats, Woodley declared bankruptcy.
Again, this may give reason as to why Woodley stepped into the boxing ring on the undercard of Paul vs Joshua, against Anderson Silva, which he also lost, leaving his professional boxing record at 0-3.
Tommy Fury
Fury did please many by stopping the Paul hype train by split decision in Saudi Arabia, but it was the start of his boxing career beginning to fall apart. He has only fought once since his victory over Olajide Olatunji, better known as KSI, in October 2023, that coming against Kenan Hanjalic in a unanimous decision win in May 2025. Outside his fading career in the squared circle, he has often been seen taking part in fitness challenges, like triathlons and marathons.
What also seemed to fall apart was his personal life, as his relationship with Molly-Mae Hauge took a hiatus in 2024. Though back together now, Molly-Mae has been reluctant to put the ring back on and tie the knot.
Ryan Bourland
Bourland was 17-2 at the time he took on Paul in March 2024, so people felt he would provide a stern challenge. That wasn’t the case at all.
Instead, like Askren, Bourland didn’t survive the first three minutes, and was dispatched in the first round. The loss was clearly too much for him as he has since quit the sport, having not fought since he lost to Paul and has now taken a routine job as a plumber.
Mike Tyson
Paul’s so-called “fight” with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson was controversial enough. However, it got worse when it was learned that before the fight in Arlington, Tyson was in hospital for a number of weeks due to losing half his blood because of a bleeding ulcer that required eight blood transfusions.
Maybe his age played a factor in why that happened. Perhaps the hospitalisation explained Tyson’s lacklustre performance in the unanimous decision loss in November 2024.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr
The former middleweight world champion, and son of the iconic Julio Cesar Chavez Snr, barely put on a display in his June 2025 unanimous defeat to the American, further disgracing the name that his father had worked so hard to put on the map.
It then got worse for the Mexican, as soon after the fight, he was deported back to his home country. It’s become seemingly apparent as to why he didn’t want to be south of the border, as he has had an active arrest warrant there since 2023 for his involvement in being a henchman for a drug cartel.
Anthony Joshua
Anthony Joshua gave Paul his second professional loss, but the latter made him work for it in a bigger ring than what is standard in professional boxing. He survived the former two-time unified heavyweight champion for six rounds before having his jaw broken by a right hand.
The injuries Paul suffered could keep him out of the ring for at least nine months, but it now seems Joshua will also not be seeing any action for a while. On the last Monday of 2025, he was involved in a car crash in Nigeria that killed two members of his team, who were close friends, with AJ suffering some injuries as well. So now not only does he need to recover mentally after the death of his friends, he has to deal with the physical damage the crash caused.
If Jake Paul does decide to keep fighting, those that will be standing in the opposite corner should be on high alert and hope the world doesn’t have a bad hand to throw at them as well.
