Jake Paul is confident he will beat Canelo Alvarez within three years after the Mexican was defeated by Dmitry Bivol.
Alvarez was outpointed by his Russian rival as he fell short in his bid to win a second light-heavyweight world title. And Paul, who has regularly called out the pound-for-pound great, was quick to respond, taking particular aim at Eddie Hearn with whom he shared promotional responsibilities for Katie Taylor's win over Amanda Serrano last weekend.
"And just like that Canelo Alvarez loses to Dmitry Bivol," he said in a video posted on social media. "An amazing fight by Bivol. I'm two inches bigger than Bivol and 40lb heavier. Give me three years and I take out Canelo in the same way. He was up on the ropes like he won but he only won three rounds in the entire fight.
WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE
"Eddie Hearn, f*** you, you can suck my d***. I'm coming and I'm beating Canelo in three f***ing years, I put that on my mama. Congrats to Dmitry Bivol, he showed Canelo is easily beatable by a bigger man which is what I've known for a long time. Believe in yourself and don't listen to those British s***bags like Eddie Hearn."
Paul has amassed a record of 5-0 as a professional boxer since making his debut in 2020. He stopped fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib before knocking out former NBA star Nate Robinson. Paul then turned his attention to former UFC fighters, stopping Ben Askren before outpointing Tyron Woodley.
Paul then agreed a fight with Tommy Fury, brother of heavyweight world champion Tyson, before the Brit pulled out at two weeks' notice with a broken rib. Paul instead fought Woodley for a second time, knocking out the former UFC welterweight champion in the sixth round.
Paul will return to the ring on August 13 with Fury and UFC legend Anderson Silva the frontrunners to be his sixth opponent. The Brazilian will first continue his boxing career on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's exhibition bout against Don Moore next weekend.
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Alvarez moved up a division to the heaviest weight of his career to tackle 12 rounds in Las Vegas with Bivol, who joined Floyd Mayweather as the only people to beat the 31-year-old. The Russian, also 31, landed cleaner and harder shots throughout, with Alvarez’s night summed up when he resorted to lifting his opponent during a clinch in the 11th round.
After three tight opening rounds, the Kyrgyz-born boxer began to use his superior height and reach to pepper Alvarez with jabs and largely kept him at bay for the rest of the encounter. The three judges all handed down scores of 115-113 in favour of Bivol having awarded Alvarez the first four rounds.
Alvarez, whose last loss came via majority decision against Mayweather in 2013, said “of course” he wanted a rematch following the defeat, adding: "This doesn’t end like this." It comes after the Mexican became the first undisputed world super-middleweight champion with victory over Caleb Plant in November.