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The five moments where Jake Paul proved himself to be a real boxer
Hate him or love him, Jake Paul is here to stay in the world of boxing. Whilst his skills in the ring are up for debate, his PPV pull places him with some of the current stars of the sport.
Paul returns to action next weekend, when he faces former middleweight world champion Julio César Chávez Jr on Saturday, June 28, live on DAZN PPV.
Although for some fans, Paul will always be a loud niche in the sweet science, the influencer turned fighter has provided some evidence over the years that he is capable of being called a real boxer.
Knocking out Tyron Woodley
GettyImages
In boxing, it can be rare to have a direct barometer to measure a fighter’s growth, with boxers usually facing different opponents each time they step into the ring.
Tyron Woodley ended up being a yardstick to measure Paul against, with the pair facing each other in back-to-back bouts in 2021.
In August, Paul edged past the former UFC welterweight champion with a split decision victory.
Paul then lined up a fight with boxer-cum-influencer Tommy Fury, only for the bout to fall through due to an injury to his opponent.
A rematch had been mooted with Woodley, leading to the MMA star lacing up the boxing gloves once again to face Paul.
While Woodley was a last-minute replacement, Paul highlighted the improvement he had made in just four months, comfortably dispatching his opponent inside two rounds.
Dropping a top 15 heavyweight in sparring
Jake Paul posted a video to social media back in 2024, showing the cruiserweight dropping his sparring partner to the canvas.
It eventually came out that said partner was Deandre Savage, a heavyweight ranked in the top 15 by the World Boxing Association (WBA).
Paul was working with Savage ahead of his bout with Mike Tyson in November 2024.
The feat is diminished by the fact that at the time of Savage’s inclusion in the WBA’s heavyweight rankings, he was only a 6-0 fighter – all of his wins coming against opponents with losing records.
Either way, Savage remained at 15th with the WBA for three months, before disappearing out of the rankings.
Investing in training
Around the time of his loss to Tommy Fury, Jake Paul was working with brother Logan on a training gym in Puerto Rico. According to Paul, the total cost for the facility was between $3.5million and $4million, with the gym featuring two boxing rings, and a wrestling ring – his brother Logan is a wrestler for the WWE.
Aside from the typical equipment found in most boxing gyms, such as punching bags and cardio machines, there is an entire area devoted to recovery, with cutting-edge tools.
First-round stoppage of Andre August
DAZN
Much of the criticism surrounding Jake Paul’s boxing career centres on the fact that his record contains fights against non-boxers. After defeating a YouTuber on his debut and then knocking out a former basketball player, Paul's next three opponents were all mixed martial artists.
When Paul finally shared the ring with a boxer of decent experience in Tommy Fury, he was handed the first loss of his career.
Undeterred by the defeat, Paul returned to the ring, albeit to face another ex-MMA fighter in the form of Nate Diaz. Once he had gotten back into the swing of things, he took on three-time Golden Gloves winner in Andre August in December 2023.
Although predominately a light heavyweight during his career and coming off a lengthy period of inactivity, August entered the fight with a respectable record of 10-1-1 (5).
He had ended a four-year absence from the ring by stepping up to cruiserweight in August 2023, earning a unanimous decision victory over the previously unbeaten Brandon Martin.
Whilst not a world-beater, August’s CV indicated that he would be Paul’s toughest challenge yet. But an uppercut in the first round ended the contest before Paul’s credentials could even be tested.
Paul would move on to face another cruiserweight with a positive record, Ryan Bourland, 17-3 (6). Bourland was another light heavy turned cruiser over the age of 30, and also lasted just a round before Paul secured a TKO victory.
Bouncing back after loss to Tommy Fury - and knocking down the Brit
(Jonathan Walley)
Jake Paul’s defeat to Tommy Fury could have served as a cap on the American’s ambitions in the sport of boxing. Having faced an actual fighter for once, and lost, many would have expected Paul to go back to bouts with retiring MMA boxers and foolhardy celebrities.
Instead, the former Disney star doubled down on his career, reiterating his desire to make an impact on the sweet science. In the year prior to his fight with Fury, 2022, Paul fought just once.
After losing to Fury in February 2023, the Ohio native returned to the ring two more times before the end of the year, before fighting three times in 2024.
Perhaps his knockdown of Fury late into their fight served as a moment of inspiration. In a fight which Fury looked by far the better fighter, the small glimmer of hope produced by Paul indicated that he had enough power to operate in the cruiserweight division.
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