Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva Odds & Betting Predictions: Two tips for Saturday's boxing bout

Just when you think Jake Paul is done he finds another semi-retired fighter to have a dig at. This time his opponent is one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time and UFC Hall of Famer Anderson Silva in a boxing match that will be taking place on the 29th of October. 

Paul has been very clever when it comes to calling out his opponents, the first being Ben Askren who has famous for having some of the worst standups in the UFC, and the next being Tyron Woodley (twice) who was coming off a bunch of losses and had already left the UFC,

This time he faces 47-year-old Anderson Silva who has actually been looking good when it comes to his boxing skills recently.

Silva was one of the early pioneers for MMA in the mainstream media and was widely regarded as the greatest of all time until the likes of Jon Jones and Khabib came into the organisation.

These days The Spider has taken to a career in boxing where he’s taken quite a liking to these ‘gimmicky’ fights in his post-UFC career. Silva started his recent boxing journey against a debutant in Brazil and then swiftly moved on to former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr who was touted to be one of the best boxers of his generation but ultimately failed to commit himself fully and whilst he did win multiple titles, still failed to deliver on what were perhaps very harsh high expectations.

Silva then recently took out Tito Ortiz in the first round giving him a 3-0-1 record in Professional boxing.

On the other hand, Jake Paul may be undefeated in his boxing career but his opponents are nowhere near the caliber of Anderson Silva.

If you would have watched Ben Askren in the UFC you would have known that he would have been no issue to Paul while Tyron Woodley was just in the next two fights for a payday. The other two fights on his record were against Youtubers who I really won’t count as professional bouts.

One thing that Paul has on his side over Anderson Silva is a huge age difference. Paul is still a young man at 25 years-old, nearly half the age of his opponent Ailva who turned 47 in April and, unfortunately, age is a big factor in combat sports.

Silva will be coming into this fight as the more established combat sports athlete but with the age favouring Paul, you can understand why he is the favourite coming into this fight. As Silva grows older he loses his speed and that was something he was famous for. Slick hands and stunning movement was what The Spider used to annihilate his opponents in the UFC.

As he turns 47, you worry that the slick head movement really will slow down. Not to mention the ability to take a punch also deteriorates with age and with a 25-year-old professional boxer coming at him, it’s going to be scary for Silva if he can’t match the pace of the youngster. 

Below we take a closer look at the odds...

As we mentioned earlier, Paul comes into this fight as the betting favourite. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise really. It may pain the UFC faithful but Paul is a professional boxer these days and not just a Youtuber like he makes out to be. 

Paul has been taking boxing seriously for around three years now and with him being quite a natural athlete anyway, he has adapted to his new sport well. People won’t like to admit it but Paul does have quite the skill when it comes to the fight game, his technique is better than quite a lot of pro boxers and whilst he might not be as fast as some of the other fighters, he does have some serious power. 

Technique wise he is no match for Silva, no matter the age difference. But with power and speed on his side, he could certainly stop Silva. I think it’d be a dangerous game for the youngster to go in and try and outbox Silva, though it might not be his sport of choice, he still demonstrated some stunning standup in the UFC and secured a decision victory against Chavez Jr.

You can actually get 11/4 for Paul to stop Silva and if his last fight, where he knocked out Tyron Woodley, is anything to go off then we could be seeing another UFC star dispatched in emphatic style by The Problem Child.

A few might be a bit surprised that Anderson Silva is the underdog in this matchup. Many believe he has the skill to beat Paul, even forcing a stoppage because of how good he is. As previously mentioned, Silva is the better fighter by far, it’s not even close in terms boxing technique. But age really could decide this fight.

In all fairness, age hasn’t looked like it has mattered to Silva who has won three of his last fights in the boxing ring. Against Chavez his head movement was crispy but he did look a tad slow in the bout. Against Tito Ortiz it was textbook Silva as he lured him into the corner where he dodged a flurry of punches and landed one counter to stop the fight in the first round. A similar thing well and truly could happen against Paul if the inexperienced fighter thinks he has Silva backed up against the roped only for him to land a trademark inside counter.

Anderson is the master of 'I’m not trapped in here with you, you’re trapped in here with me'. He will often invite the pressure onto him to lure his opponent into a false sense of security and finish the fight with a flush counter. This could play perfect against Paul who likes to look for that big right hand, if he misses, it could be all she wrote.

The bookmakers have him at 2/1 to finish the fight which looks the much more likely option as the decision is 5/1. Both could prove to be a bit of value if we get the old Anderson Silva but those days may be behind us, if this fight was five years ago, Silva would probably be about 1/20 but that is not the way the world works.