Lennox Lewis labels Jake Paul fight ‘a farce’

The YouTube star was a big hit on the newfound pay-per-view network for his fight against former MMA star Ben Askren

(Getty Images for Triller)

Lennox Lewis has branded Jake Paul’s fights as “a farce” following the YouTuber’s venture into professional boxing.

Paul headlined a pay-per-view event on Triller last month, knocking out former UFC star Ben Askren to advance to 3-0 since turning over, with three knockouts.

But now, the former undisputed world heavyweight champion of the world is irked at Paul’s ability to operate as a professionally licensed boxer.

“Now we are getting to the root of the problem,” Lewis said when asked if Paul was a licensed professional boxer.

“Licensed as a professional but with a record of never fought a professional boxer. This is the farce not my beloved boxing.”

Lewis’ rant was sparked by seeing a story about broadcaster Triller suing illegal streamers for up to £72million ($100m).

The 1988 Olympic gold medallist insisted it was no surprise to see many choosing to illegally stream the event due to the target audience being too young to be able to afford the £36 ($50) pay-per-view fee.

Lewis said: “What did they expect? The majority of the marketing was on social media targeting teenagers. Do teenagers really have $50 for PPV?”

Triller, meanwhile, do not intend to pursue legal action against boxing fans who did illegally stream the platform’s 17 April fight, provided those individuals pay the original $49.99 price before June 1.

There is the potential for Triller to pursue legal action and a maximum penalty of $150,000 per illegal stream of the fight.

“VPNs all have to comply and turn over the actual IP addresses of each person who stole the fight in discovery,” Triller’s head of piracy Matt St. Claire said.

“We will be able to identify each and every person, VPN or not, as each stream has a unique fingerprint embedded in the content,” he said.

“Triller will pursue the full $150,000 penalty per person per instance for anyone who doesn’t do the right thing and pay before the deadline,” he added.