YouTube star Vitaly Zdorovetskiy is planning to pursue boxing for as long as it takes to seal a fight with Jake Paul and finally put an end to his combat career.
Paul has elevated YouTube boxing into the mainstream with his transition from fighting fellow social media stars to taking on MMA champions like Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren.
And despite having raced ahead of rivals like KSI or his former opponents Deji Olatunji and AnEsonGib, Paul is still frequently called out by fellow influencers for fights.
However, prankster Vitaly, with over 10million followers on YouTube, has said that he plans to become so dominant in the sport that Paul has to fight him, starting with a win over Kristen Hanby at Wembley next month.
He has previously called out both Paul brothers, but argues that Jake's older brother Logan losing to KSI and not finding a win in his next bout with Floyd Mayweather has made him a less attractive opponent.
"I don't want to fight a loser," Vitaly told Mirror Fighting in an exclusive chat. "So I'm going past Logan and straight for Jake.
"I know Jake will make a load of excuses, say I'm irrelevant, blah, blah, blah which is because I took a break from YouTube to deal with my own problems."
And he says that the pair would never have made it big on YouTube if they weren't inspired by his videos, which were massive during his prime on the website.
He is currently in the midst of a comeback, but is training in an intensive Russian camp that includes unbeaten professional Vladimir Myshev for his boxing debut.
"At the end of the day, they need to know who the daddy is," he continued. "When we used to be friends they used to tell me how much they looked up to me.
"They said the reason they started social media was because of me so at the end of the day they have to put respect on my name and go in the ring.
"I'm built different, I've got the hunger in me, I'm Russian, I have boiling blood."
The social media star understands that right now, Paul is a far superior technical boxer, as evidenced by his knockout wins over every one of his opponents at professional and amateur level.
But he is training intensely, and believes he'll eventually have enough about him to be the first fighter to put a loss on Paul's 5-0 record.
Would you like to see Jake Paul fight Vitaly if he wins two or three fights this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"He may have better skills than me because he's been training longer," Vitaly explained. "But with how strong I am, the power and how hungry I am, I'm a human wolf.
"So if a 1,300lb bull couldn't knock me out [in a YouTube video he once filmed], what makes you think Jake Paul can do it?
"My mission is to climb to Jake Paul, I know he's big headed right now because he fought a real UFC champion in Tyron Woodley.
"But I want to show how hungry and how good I am and it'll get to a point where I beat Kristen Hanby, I beat another opponent on the next card and get a few fights under my belt.
"What will happen is he'll be unable to escape my name, he'll see it everywhere in comments and on social media and he'll have to take it.
"That's what I'm hoping, and if not, he's a little b****."
Tickets are on sale now at showstarboxing.com and via AXS for Showstar Boxing 2022, which will be headlined by Deji vs Alex Wassabi.
