Jake Paul is turning a page in his boxing career as he tries to defy the odds.
Paul (7-1) faces Andre August (10-1-1) in an eight-round cruiserweight bout Dec. 15 at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Fla. The fight headlines MVP’s Most Valuable Prospects 4 and will be offered as part of the standard DAZN subscription package.
Paul has put fighting MMA stars behind him and is now targeting professional boxers. He sees August as a right step towards that direction.
“This is my road to becoming a world champion,” Paul told MMA Junkie. “When I’ve said that and uttered those words, I think people took it as a joke or, ‘He’s just saying that to market himself or make himself a bigger fighter or ruffle feathers and get media headlines and stuff,’ but they didn’t actually think I was being serious. I’m dead serious. That is what I’m going to do and this is the step in that direction.
“We’ve done the big pay-per-views. We’ve generated $200 million in sales, and this is now taking a step back from like business, and MMA fighters, and big names, to just grow my experience, to stay sharp, to elevate my level of opposition and to fight real pro boxers who have been doing this their whole life. He’s more experienced than me, (has) more knockouts than me, (is) 10-1, a beast, and he’s going to come to fight.”
“The Problem Child” lacks in experience as he pursues gold, but the 26-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer thinks his athleticism can carry him until his experience catches up.
“I think I could do it quickly because of my focus, my dedication, and my athleticism,” Paul said. “It turns out I’m more athletic than 99.9 percent of boxers in terms of running, jumping, weight lifting, squatting, punching power. But, what I don’t have that they have is the decades of experience.
“So, I’m on like this crash course to get all of those things, but it’s backed by this extreme athleticism. No boxer that has ever come to camp has beaten me in a jog, beaten me in a sprint, beaten me on the bench press, beaten me on the squats. So, that I have to my advantage, and I think I can get there in two to three years.”
