Can Jake Paul beat a real boxer? Influential to fight Andre next August

Jake Paul wants to be taken seriously as a boxer.

The YouTube influencer has a 7-1 record with four knockouts, but has yet to defeat a legitimate professional boxer.

He’ll have a chance to change that soon. Paul will face Andre Auguste (10-1-1, 5 knockouts) in an eight-round cruiserweight bout on December 15 at the Royal Caribe Resort in Orlando. DAZN is broadcasting the fight.

“I’m a professional boxer and I want to be a world champion, so I need to continue on the path to greatness against people who have boxed their whole lives,” Paul said in a statement. Ring against experienced fighters. I’m coming to prove my greatness on Friday, December 15th live on DAZN for the world to see.

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Since turning pro in 2020, Paul’s victories in the boxing ring have come against fellow influencer AnEsonGib, former NBA star Nate Robinson and aging MMA fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice), Anderson Silva and most recently Nate Diaz in August.

The only blemish on Paul’s record comes from his only bout against a commercial boxer – Tommy Fury (10-0, 4 KO), who beat Paul by split decision in February.

August, 35, is a Houston-based fighter whose only career loss was by technical knockout to Eric Abraham (7-16, 3 KO) in 2018. August has won five straight bouts since then, but his August 11 unanimous decision win over Brandon Martin (7-1, 5 KO) was his first fight in nearly four years.

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Former WBC light middleweight champion and current DAZN commentator Sergio Moura has been a vocal critic of Paul, particularly due to the YouTuber’s lack of legitimate boxing opponents. He wasn’t too impressed with the selection of August, who Moura had never heard from before Wednesday.

“He seems to be another Tommy Fury-type opponent who (Paul) lost the SD card to,” Moura said of August in a text message to The Times. “But yeah, this guy is technically a professional boxer and I have to give (Paul) credit for that.”

Moura added: “I’ll tell you what, I give credit to Paul and the team that surrounds him, because it’s very difficult to comb the nation to find opponents like this guy who looks good on paper, but he’s a ‘paper fighter.’ … He looks every bit a fighter.” But look at the numbers and you will see that he has not fought in 4 years and has only fought “non-winners.”

Asked if Paul would gain any of his respect by stepping into the ring with a professional fighter like Auguste, Moura replied: “He would. But his team would have more of my respect.”

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.