Jake Paul's boxing career continues to stir up debate in the boxing world. The YouTube star turned boxer keeps working towards his goal of becoming a legitimate world champion. But veteran promoter Bob Arum doesn't buy it.
Paul's record mostly includes wins over former UFC fighters who are smaller and older than him. He faced his first real test against Tommy Fury, an up-and-coming boxer, and lost. Then he took on 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a fight that many fans felt proved nothing.
Paul did show some improvement in his clear points victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. The former world champion barely threw a punch for the first eight rounds. This win helped Paul climb to number 14 in the WBA's cruiserweight rankings.
Despite these steps forward, 93-year-old Bob Arum remains unimpressed. The veteran promoter, who's seen it all in boxing, doesn't mince words about Paul's prospects.
"Jake Paul's not a boxer,"Arum told Fight Hub TV before Paul's bout with Chavez Jr.
Arum thinks Paul is more interested in clever matchmaking and spectacle fights than real challenges. He explained:
"Jake Paul is not fighting a real fighter. He's smarter than you and me combined. It's not a scam because people know what they're getting, but he's not interested in fighting somebody that can really give him a whooping."
This isn't the first time Arum has dismissed Paul's boxing ambitions. Back in 2021, he told The MMA Hour:
"I have never seen him fight, I don't know if he can fight or not fight. I'm inclined to believe that an experienced fighter in his weight class will demolish him because you know, an experienced fighter in any weight class will demolish a young fighter no matter what his amateur pedigree is. I cannot see why that would be different."
Paul remains confident he'll prove the old guard wrong. But for now, Arum's stance is clear: Jake Paul isn't a real boxer, and he won't become a legitimate world champion anytime soon.
