What is the Drake Curse, who has fallen victim to it and is Jake Paul the latest?
ANTHONY JOSHUA was humiliated by Andy Ruiz Jr back in 2020 as the Brit suffered the first defeat of his professional boxing career.
While the Mexican fighter will no doubt take all the glory and thank Snickers for their contribution – could there have been other worldly forces at work in the bout at Madison Square Garden.
What is the Drake Curse?
The Drake Curse is not some plague concocted by a witch, nor a disease – it is a photo with Canadian rapper who lends his name to it.
In the past, Drake has been snapped with sports stars ahead of matches or major sporting events, before the picture goes viral on social media.
Yet, the athlete posing alongside the 36-year-old often loses shortly afterwards, with the musical artist becoming a serious bad luck charm.
Most Read in Sport
Who has fallen victim to the Drake Curse?
The Drake Curse started out in basketball, with the artist becoming a part of the Kentucky college basketball program.
Except they haven’t won a title since, and three years later, they lost a decider against Wisconsin in which Drake bet over £4500 on it.
In 2013, his hometown basketball side suffered as well, as Toronto Raptors made him their global ambassador back in 2013 – only to soon gain a reputation for choking in big matches.
Miami were next up, losing 4-1 to San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals – the Florida side were even blessed with the likes of LeBron James and Dwayne Wade.
In 2015, the Drake Curse moved away from basketball and into tennis, as Serena Williams suffered a shocking US Open semi-final defeat to Roberta Vinci.
The following year, it was not so much a match, but his place in the sport, as quarterback Johnny Manziel dropped out of NFL, despite being a first-round draft pick in the past.
While it appears like a few anomalies over the years, the Drake Curse has spread like wildfire in 2019.
First it was UFC champion Conor McGregor to lose to Khabib Nurmagomedov, before Alabama’s college football team were beaten heavily by rivals Clemson.
Dipping into association football, former Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho posed with Drake prior to losing to Bayern Munich.
Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was next up by being benched in the defeat to Bayern Munich.
Drake even ruined Manchester City’s 2019 Champions League hopes as Sergio Aguero missed a penalty against Tottenham.
Paris Saint-Germain then suffered their heaviest league defeat in 19 years, by losing 5-1 to Lille.
Who is the latest victim of the Drake curse?
Drake bet £350,000 on Jake Paul to beat Tommy Fury, which would have returned a very healthy £1 million.
On the night, it was Fury who picked up the win by split-decision in Saudi Arabia.
Paul said: “This is Drake’s fault! Drake bro, why did you do this to me?
The rapper got back to winning ways by placing a huge bet on Jon Jones to beat Ciryl Gane at UFC 285.
He staked £207,730 on Bones to win by submission and £207,730 to win by way of knockout.
The Canadian was a massive £1.4m richer after UFC 285.
Who has overcome the Drake curse?
Back in 2019, the curse was at its very peak, with many sporting stars falling victim.
However, in recent times it seems the curse is no longer in effect.
In 2021 Tyson Fury was supported by Drake online prior to his trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder.
The Gypsy King went on to knock out the Bronze Bomber in Las Vegas, showing no signs of suffering with the Canadian’s curse, as Fury retains his WBC heavyweight championship belt.
Bayern Munich star Alfonso Davies is also immune to the rapper’s curse, as he was pictured with Drake just days before his side was set to take on Bayer Leverkusen back in October 2021.
The German giants went on to beat Leverkusen comfortably with a 5-1 victory.