Jake Paul has outlined his future plans as he looks to secure a showdown with a former world heavyweight champion next.
The 28-year-old from Cleveland, Ohio made his debut back in 2020 and has gone on to fight 13 times as a professional, suffering just one defeat to Britain’s Tommy Fury back in 2023.
Paul made his most recent ring appearance back in June, defeating Mexico’s former WBC world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr via unanimous decision at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
With rumours circulating about the 28-year-old’s next outing, it has been reported in recent weeks that he could face either two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua or former long-reigning WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder.
Speaking to Thunderpick, Wilder’s former trainer Malik Scott revealed that Paul is ‘dead serious’ about locking horns with the once formidable puncher.
“Jake is dead serious about the Deontay Wilder fight. I’ve been in New York for the Katie Taylor fight and I just met Jake Paul’s partner [Nakisa Bidarian], literally three minutes ago. And the first thing he said was, ‘we’re interested in the Deontay Wilder fight’. He asked me, ‘what do I think of it?’ They’re just so serious. Some of the things that he said confidently to me, really makes you know that they’re not fake confident, they really are confident [in defeating Wilder].”
Despite this, it appears Paul has his sights set on just one man however, as Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn revealed in an interview with The Stomping Ground that the focus is on making a clash between Paul and ‘AJ’ next.
“To be honest, the focus is still very much on the Jake Paul fight, those talks continue in an amicable and exciting fashion with MVP, and I think that’s definitely the favourite to happen next, I really do.”
Joshua is currently recovering from a recent elbow operation, although it is likely that the 35-year-old from Watford could well make his long-awaited return to the ring before the end of the year.
