BOXING legend Oscar De La Hoya believes YouTube stars Jake and Logan Paul are ‘great’ for the sport.
The social media celebs have taken the boxing world by storm over the last two years, so much so Logan recently had an exhibition with five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather.
But the brothers’ rise to stardom in the sport has drawn the ire of many purists, who believe they’re disrespecting the sweet science.
Olympic gold medallist De La Hoya disagrees with that notion and believes the pair are bringing a whole new audience to the fight game.
The Golden Boy told ABC7: “I think Jake and Logan Paul are great for boxing overall.
“In boxing, we are always questioning why is it going down or why are the ratings so low, or why are there not more world title fights and why is it the fanbase diminishing.
“It’s not really on the face of it, but when you have stars like Jake and Logan Paul bringing a whole new fanbase to boxing, I embrace it one-thousand per cent.
“Now kids are coming up to me in the street because of them, now they know who Oscar De La Hoya is and Manny Pacquiao is as these YouTubers are bringing kids into the sport through their platform and through social media.
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“So I embrace it always definitely yes.”
Despite his older brother recently sharing the ring with Mayweather, Jake, 24, has made a bigger impact in the boxing world.
The former Disney star is 3-0 as a pro following knockouts of fellow YouTuber AnEson Gib, ex-NBA star Nate Robinson and former UFC welterweight Ben Askren.
The Problem Child will be back in action on Monday morning against Askren’s good friend, former UFC 170lb champion Tyron Woodley.
And the younger Paul brother is confident he’ll add The Chosen One’s name to his victim list in devastating fashion.
He told Sky Sports: “Honestly after this camp, I said three [rounds] and now I’m thinking, max two.
“But to be honest, something in my heart tells me that it’s going to be another one-round fight.
“As crazy as that sounds. I think it’s going to be a very short night for Tyron.”
He added: “I’m just built different. I have something inside of me that I think is just a natural-born fighter, with natural power.
“You can teach a lot of things, but you can’t teach speed and you can’t teach power.
“I think that’s why my fights have ended so early.
“When those 10oz Grant gloves come on, I just grip them back, and the knuckles are at the front of the gloves.
“There’s no way these people’s heads can deal with this damage.”
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