Author:Gage Holder          Editor: Harrison Holder

Whether you love him, hate him or you’re somewhere in the middle like I am, you can’t help but be intrigued by what move Jake Paul makes next in his boxing career. In his last bout Jake Paul with a pro boxing record of 8-1 dispatched Veteran boxer Ryan Bourland by first-round KO/TKO improving to 9-1(6 KO/TKOs). Bourland looked outmatched in size, speed, and power from the opening bell. He entered the bout with a 17-2 pro record and an extensive amateur background, but none of that seemed to matter as he was outmatched from the start. First off let’s look at the negative points of this fight and why some people still refuse to give Jake any type of credit as a boxer. Reasons like it was very clear at weigh ins who was the bigger, stronger, more athletic, powerful boxer. Jake had a good 3-4 inches on Bourland as well as a clear-cut weight advantage the night of the fight, Bourland also didn’t look in particularly good shape and was in his late thirties with only one bout in the last six years making you wonder if he trained almost at all for this bout with Jake. Also seeing as to how he only had 6 Career KOs he wasn’t much of a power threat to keep Jake away. With all that said let’s look at the positive notes for Jake’s win, No matter how you shake it Jake at 8-1 with no amateur background and a few years of legit boxing training just sparked a pro boxer with over twice his experience and time in the sport. Bourland was 17-2 as a pro, boxing since the age of 13, and was a former Amateur Gold Gloves champion and Jr Olympic competitor. You don’t lose that credibility from being inactive. 

It was announced a few weeks later in a blockbuster announcement that Jake would be boxing retired former Pro Heavyweight champion and HOF Mike Tyson in a bout that was scheduled to go 8-2 minute rounds with 14 Oz gloves. A lot of people including myself were very skeptical of this announcement and of the legitimacy of this bout seeing as Tyson would have been 58 years old by the time the two would have faced off, compared to Jake who’s just 27 and was coming off two bro boxing bouts within the last year. The experience was going to be with the former HW world champion but not many outside of people wanting to see Jake lose gave Mike much of a chance seeing as he’s nearing 60 and had competed one time since 2005 in an exhibition bout Vs another retired boxer Roy Jones Jr. Well fast forward to a couple weeks ago a story broke about Tyson having some kind of health scare on a flight that ended up being related to an Ulcer around his heart. Even tho Mike is expecting to be completely fine from the incident it was announced earlier today that this health scare has caused the bout between the two which was scheduled to go down July 20th on Netflix to be “Postponed”. I’m not going to sugarcoat it this fight is 99 percent, never going to take place no matter what Jake and his team are saying about it being rescheduled. There is not enough to gain for Tyson to ever box again let alone against someone 30 years younger than him who’s active as a boxer. It shouldn’t ever have been scheduled in the first place and if Jake ever wants to be taken seriously at all in boxing he might as well move on from this Tyson fantasy and get back to boxing actual boxers, hell even former MMA fighters would entice me more than the circus that was about to take place. With that said let’s look at some possibilities for Jake’s next opponent that makes much more logical sense now that I think everyone will move on from this Tyson bout.

1.New Blood-Neeraj Goyat

Neeraj Goyat is a 32-year-old Indian-born professional boxer with a pro record of 18-4-2 he turned pro in 2011 and last competed in a winning effort in 2023. To me, he clicks the most boxes in why I think he’s going to be Jake’s next opponent. First and foremost early this year news broke that Goyat had signed to Jake Paul’s MVP promotions management team. A regular move made by promoters is to bring in a fighter who’s about to fight one of their top guys and sign him if at all possible to make negotiations easier, could this be that move by Jake and his team?

Also, Goyat has been very vocal about wanting to box Jake Paul. He said in multiple interviews he would stop Jake if he got the fight it also helps that he is very popular in his home country for not only boxing but his acting career where he has appeared in multiple Indian films and shows. Adding more fuel to the fire is that there is a video posted to Goyats Instagram of him and Jake Paul getting into some kind of confrontation outside a gym in Puerto Rico that has accumulated over two million views. Too many things adding up for me to not think this is the most logical next choice for Jake’s boxing Career.

2.The familiar Face-Tommy Fury

Tommy Fury is a 24-year-old English-born pro boxer with a pro record of 10-0, he also holds a split decision win over Jake in a previous bout they had in early 2023. That to date is Jake’s only pro loss. To me, this is the most obvious choice I think for Jake’s next move and according to him and his team was the original choice for the July bout on Netflix. For reasons I’ll explain I don’t think it’s the ideal circumstances for this rematch.

Seeing as Tommy has only boxed one time since the Jake bout in a lackluster exhibition vs KSI and is rumored to be fighting another none boxer social influencer in what will also likely be another unsanctioned bout. Meanwhile, Jake has picked up three wins and just fought pro boxers in his last two bouts both of which happened in the last six months. It seems there are too many hurdles currently for this fight to be rebooked from the side of Fury.

3. A Rival’s Old Coach-Viddal Riley

Viddal Riley is a 26-year-old English-born pro boxer who turned pro in 2018 and has a pro record of 10-0 last competing in late 2023. He also was a silver medalist for the UK back in 2014 at the JR Olympics and had an impressive amateur record of 41-8. More importantly, he and Jake Paul have a bit of history and compete in the same weight class. Riley is the old boxing coach of Jake’s Internet Rival KSI and has been critical of Jake’s skills in the past. Stating in multiple interviews that he would beat both Jake Paul and Tommy Fury with ease.

Why I don’t think this fight will come together is more from the side of Jake and his team keeping the option of a KSI fight down the line. If you take this fight and beat Riley then the KSI fight is almost certainly gone for good, KSI has stated many times during his training with Riley how much better Viddal was than him and how badly he would lose if they boxed for real. Almost No chance he would take the Jake fight if Jake were to beat Riley, which is a big if.

4.The Good Old MMA Route-Mike Perry

Mike Perry is a combat sports star with a pro MMA record of 14-8(7-8 UFC), and a pro bare-knuckle boxing record of 5-0. Perry also holds a decision win over former boxing champion Michael Seals in a mixed-rules boxing bout back in 2021. If Jake didn’t want to keep going the traditional boxer route for the time being he could find a very fun big-name opponent in a very familiar place in his former sparring partner and bare-knuckle star Mike Perry. Platinum was brought in for sparring rounds during Jake’s camp for his third pro bout against Ben Askren back in 2021 and allegedly got the better of Perry. I wouldn’t take too much stock into that tho for a potential matchup seeing as he was brought in to help Jake prep for a bout. Not try to beat him or KO him in sparring with actual effort. I don’t see the reward being worth the risk for Jake to take this bout.

Perry would certainly be undersized against Jake and he’s not the most defensively sound fighter to put it politely. That said a few things you can also count on is Perry is in his fighting prime, he will show up in amazing shape, hungry, trying to knock Jake out the whole time. He’s gritty as they come and would be physically the toughest guy Jake arguably ever fought he wouldn’t just roll over for an early KO like Jake’s last two opponents. Perry is coming off his 5th straight win in BKFC as he won back on April 27th at Knucklemania 4 vs former UFC vet and formerly unbeaten bare-knuckle boxer Thiago Alvez. This is a fun fight to make. Perry is free to box while being under contract with BKFC so there seem to be no hurdles if they want to schedule this one next.

5.Fuck it option-KSI

KSI’s real name Olajide”JJ” Olatunji is an English-born 30-year-old social media star who has dabbled in amateur and “pro” boxing. He has a pro boxing record of 4-1-1 including a win over Jake’s brother Logan Paul after they drew in an amateur bout. KSI also shares a loss with Jake as he lost to Tommy Fury in a “pro exhibition” bout that wasn’t sanctioned as a pro bout last year. If Jake wanted to make the most money while taking the least amount of risk this is the fight to make. Two of the biggest social media stars in recent memory who have a very deep history of dislike for each other would sell through the roof.

If Jake doesn’t want a boxer or MMA fighter next time out and wants an easier opponent with a big name then this is the option for him but there are still other big hurdles standing in the way of this bout. For one KSI doesn’t have a pro boxing license with any actual governing bodies like Jake does. That’s why KSI’s “pro” wins wouldn’t be counted by most people including multiple boxing organizations. So considering he uses a secondary commission to sanction all his previous bouts and drug testing it would all need to be taken care of before they could box in an actual pro bout. Besides all that Jake is the more experienced boxer of the two. He’s got more skills, he’s bigger, faster, and more powerful. In my opinion, he would stop KSI early and often so the fight doesn’t seem very likely the more and more time goes past. Probably won’t happen for those reasons, but now might be the last visible opportunity to make the fight between the two before the gap is too wide you can’t sell the fight as competitive.

Who would you like to see Jake go against in his next boxing bout? Let me know you’re opinions in the comments 👇🏻