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- Hector Lombard has challenged Jake Paul to compete in bare knuckle fighting.
- Lombard is the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship's cruiserweight titleholder.
- "I don't think he's got the [guts] to take the gloves off and fight bare knuckle," Lombard said.
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Veteran brawler Hector Lombard says Jake Paul doesn't "have the balls" to compete in a bare knuckle match.
Lombard is one of the better-known fighters in the rising Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship promotion, and recently courted controversy for instigating a post-event melee at the BK FC 19 show June 19 in Miami.
The Cuban fighter Lombard won BKFC's cruiserweight championship after stopping Joe Riggs in the fourth round, but when rival athlete Lorenzo Hunt entered the ring to challenge him, Lombard smacked him with a one-two punch combination.
Now, weeks later, he is verbally smacking the YouTube content creator Jake Paul, who is 3-0 as a pro boxer and returns to the ring August 1 to fight the former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.
"I don't think he's ever going to have the balls to fight bare knuckle," Lombard told MMA Junkie Radio.
Paul's fighting career has been perplexing so far, as he is yet to fight an actual boxer using boxing rules.
His three wins to date have come against a fellow internet celebrity (AnEsonGib), a former NBA player (Nate Robinson), and a former MMA fighter (Ben Askren), who was years removed from his prime and had suffered hip and back issues.
Those in and around boxing implore him to fight an actual boxer, or if he's going to fight MMA fighters, to do so using MMA rules. Now, Lombard just wants to see him lose the gloves and compete bare knuckle.
"This is a guy I've been supporting - Jake Paul - way before anybody," said Lombard.
"I remember when I said on my Instagram that Jake Paul was going to KO Ben Askren, a lot of people laughed at me. But Ben Askren sucks at boxing, so I was right.
"Jake Paul is a [good] athlete, but I don't think he's got the [guts] to ever take the gloves off and fight bare knuckle. I don't think so. And he can prove me wrong."