The YouTube star turned boxer spoke with ET about his upcoming fight and how he's been getting ready to throw down.
Primed and ready to throw down. Jake Paul is set to take on Anderson Silva in a hotly anticipated boxing match, and the young pugilist says he's going to bring more to this fight than any before.
"I am just excited, man. I am just excited. Everything happens for a reason," Paul recently told ET. "I have trained all year for this moment and people are going to see a new fighter on October 29th."
Paul's bout with Silva is something of a unique experience for the 25-year-old YouTube star, as Silva, 47, was the first celebrity Paul ever met as a kid.
"There's no celebrities in Ohio and he just happened to be there for some reason at an MMA fight," he recalled of the childhood encounter, where he snapped a pic with Silva all those years ago. "It's very surreal man. I started jumping rope, and I just looked up at the posters [promoting their match] and I just had to like giggle to myself. Like, this is just hilarious that we are here and I am fighting this guy."
That being said, Paul says their friendliness won't be something that holds him back when they throw down in the ring.
"This is what I do for a living so it's easy for me to turn that switch on," Paul said. "But I am carrying that Mamba mentality into the ring."
Referencing the late Kobe Bryant, Paul explained, "You know, he knocked over his teammate, Pau Gasol, on the redeem team. He didn't give a s**t, you know, if they were cordial or not. They just won the championship. [Kobe] tackled him in the sport of basketball! So I am carrying that Mamba mentality into the fight on Saturday."
Paul explained that he's looking forward to the electric energy from the crowd to charge him up and get him pumped on the night of the match.
"I am a game-time performer and this really feels like my first big fight ever," he shared. "We've had some big ones already, so maybe this is a mega-fight. So yeah, I am excited and it should be a really good night."
Fans can see Paul and Silva face off live on Showtime PPV on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 9 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. PT, from the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
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