Logan Paul explains how ‘boxing chose me’ as a sport, admits MMA is ‘f*cking hard’

Logan Paul sits just days away from stepping into the ring for an exhibition bout against Floyd Mayweather but beyond the financial incentive attached to an event of that magnitude, the question still remains why exactly the YouTube celebrity and social media influencer selected boxing as his sport of choice.

In theory, the 26-year-old Ohio native would have actually been better suited for mixed martial arts considering he was once a fifth-place finisher in a state wrestling tournament. Ohio is considered one of the top states for wrestling in the U.S., which is why his accomplishment holds a little bit more weight than the average high school tournament.

Of course, that’s still a far cry from competing in a promotion like the UFC but at least Paul had the foundation to build upon based on his wrestling roots.

On Thursday, Paul explained his motivation to explore a career in boxing versus transitioning into MMA where his prior experience would likely serve him well.

“I didn’t choose boxing, boxing chose me,” Paul said during an interview with Showtime. “Seriously, I got challenged to box. I answered that challenge and then kind of fell perfectly into the sport. Truthfully, boxing’s a bit easier on the body than MMA. MMA’s f*cking hard.

“I got bad knees. I’m old now. I’m aging. My upper body’s strong. My upper body always has been strong. I got dense-ass bones. I’m in like the top half-percentile in bone density. My strength is all here. MMA is tough. The lower body knows.”

While Paul has previously promised that he will compete in MMA at least once before it’s all said and done, his focus right now is facing arguably the best boxer of this generation.

At 50-0, Mayweather has fought and beaten every challenger who has ever stood in front of him and that’s a long list of fighters with championship credentials. Meanwhile, Paul is currently 0-1 as a professional boxer but he’s not leaning on his past ring savvy to get him through this upcoming fight.

Instead, Paul is counting on the unpredictability of fighting to get him through.

“Fight my heart out. Fight my f*cking heart out,” Paul said about his strategy against Mayweather. “Fight my heart out. That’s the beautiful thing about this sport. Experience, it’s fantastic. In almost any industry, experience is going to trump everything else. But at the end of the day, this is a fight and anything can happen.”

Of course, Paul is no stranger to the bright lights and the big show but regardless of his past fame built from viral videos on YouTube, he’s now about to take punches from one of the greatest boxers in history.

That’s a terrifying prospect for anybody but Paul promises he’s up to the challenge and nothing about the magnitude of this event has gotten to him yet.

“I often have to ask myself ‘am I affected by this?’” Paul said. “You look at this crowd, you see all these people, the hot lights, the pressure, you want to do well, your friends and your family’s watching and I always want to be real with myself. Am I affected by this? But I love this. I love this. This is me in my element. This is what I came out to Hollywood to do when I started making videos.

“When I started making f*cking videos on YouTube, that was the cusp, the precipice for all this. This is it. This is endgame. This is what I signed up for. This is what I wanted. This is me in my element. I love this sh*t. All of it’s exciting for me.”

The same goes for fight night as Paul looks to hold his own against Mayweather over eight rounds in the boxing ring.

“I try not to let it consume me but it’s exciting,” Paul said. “But going in there to do a job, to get a job done. It’s business. Another day at the office. Literally, I’m going to walk in the office, chill, the bell’s going to ring and I’m going to go ‘this is crazy’ and then f*cking fight my heart out. It’s another day.”