Eddie Hearn clarifies 'average fighter' comments about Jake Paul

When Matchroom chairman Eddie Hearn calmly and decisively belittled Paul's skills, saying he was "not and will never be a world-class fighter" and "mid-level fighter," the memes quickly spread online. Naturally, this made things awkward for Hearn when it came time to do business with Paul.

"I don't think he liked my comment about being a regular fighter, which I again put aside - I think it's still pretty flattering," Hearn told The MMA Hour.

Paul, of course, disagreed with Matchroom's CEO last Thursday when they, as co-promoters, sued Katie Taylor's sale of Amanda Serrano, the first female pay-per-view headliner to headline Madison Square Garden. During this exchange and the following, the YouTuber-turned-boxer made his case for a great one, an issue that is at least partly based on his potential in recent years.

"The problem is I'm not going to be rude, but at the same time, I'm not going to enjoy what we call it," Hearn said. "I'll be honest. There are so many fighters out there that I would say they are average. It's not bad; it's not great; it's in the middle. So I say you are an average professional fighter. That's a big compliment.

"But this is the guy who told me on camera, 'In two years, I will beat Canello [Alvarez].' I think he's so blind, so blind. Still, that blindness and confidence are going to help him in the ring because he goes in there and thinks he's a world-class fighter, and it's going to blow him up in the end, but I think People -That guy is a little confused about his confidence and it's not a false belief, he thinks he's a world-class fighter."