Jake Paul’s Netflix documentary, The Problem Child, will most not likely change your mind either way. If you think he’s a braggadocious, annoying Youtuber desecrating the sport of boxing – you’ll probably feel the same way. On the flip side, if you see a person who was able to parlay his knowledge of promotion into a lucrative second career that has finally woken people up to meager fighter pay and that boxing has been lax in giving fans something to be eager for (except this weekend), you’ll have every reason to feel that way.
One of the first words we hear in Andrew Renzi’s documentary is from Jake’s older brother, Logan, who says, “Jake Paul is a promoter. You got fooled into thinking he was a boxer.” The fight game has always had a level of showmanship associated with it – from the promotion style of Don King to the “I’m a BAD MAN” cadences of the late, great Muhammad Ali (this documentary showcases many clips from his heyday). People want to see a great fight, but also want the jousting. That’s a component Jake Paul understands well. The Problem Child moniker encompasses his event style done to the old guard.
In 2021 alone, Paul made $40 million, and that sort of drive derives from much of his earlier life. The Problem Child provides a backstory to his childhood, his rise on YouTube with Logan, and his eventual stint in a Disney show, Bizaardvark. Even being one of the highest-viewed creators on the platform and buying a million-dollar home when he was 18, that came with some baggage. Jake and Logan had a sibling rivalry where they cut “diss tracks” on each other and didn’t talk for a while. In Logan’s pre-fight speech in the beginning, he mentions that it doesn’t seem like Jake is his little brother anymore, but also says if he becomes president, Logan can be his vice president or secretary of defense.
The brothers are highly supportive of each other, but this new career feels like it’s born in part from Jake not trying to be in Logan’s shadow. There’s a brief debate between the two brothers and who had the most views and subscribers. Another ingredient is Jake’s relationship with his father, Greg. Jake and Logan wouldn’t go as far as saying their upbringing was abusive, but they both indicate it was hard. In the interviews within the documentary, Greg embodied the typical masculine bravado in which he tells Jake to get over it and to “look at everything that’s happened in his life.” It’s not exactly comforting for a man who is described as dealing with the fallout to this day.
Then, there were controversies from neighbors complaining about Jake’s conduct, an FBI raid at his home, and sexual assault allegations. Jake Paul noted that at one point, he was two months from being broke, and all of these ingredients collided into the second act Jake is currently enjoying. The Problem Child shows that he’s banking on your hate of him and taking it to the bank. We see various clips from sports talk shows and a recurring theme of UFC owner Dana White dismissing him as a fad. At the same time, people check his fights with the hopes that the person across from the ring finally gets him.
In sports documentary fashion, we see Jake Paul’s previous fights leading up to his first loss against Tommy Fury. He takes this seriously – training hard as the calls for him to fight actual boxers are equally as loud as his wanting to be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Did boxing lose its muster due to self-inflicted wounds and the rise of UFC? Yes. With that respect, it feels like Jake Paul and the sport are a match made in heaven. As his YouTube persona fell apart, he took the P.T. Barnum aesthetic and turned it into a specific target. It seems much more so in White’s direction with the fights with former UFC legends and the suggestion of starting a fighter’s union.
Mike Tyson, former world heavyweight champion, says about Jake, “he’s not a boxer; he’s an anti-hero.” Battling his own demons, it feels as though men like Paul and Tyson can find a rebirth within all the hysteria of the four-sided ring, It’s interesting with all these descriptors about Paul, they never specifically hone in on the main thing he’s doing. Maybe that’s the way he wants to keep it.
