Jake Paul took a major step toward cementing his credibility as a legitimate boxer as he beat seasoned fighter Andre August via first-round knockout on Friday night. Paul caught August with a clean right uppercut with 28 seconds remaining in the first round. "Set up my shot and he went night night. This is all part of the process, the next step to world champion. Clearly these guys can't hang with me. Right now, I'm focused on being the best in the world and creating one of the greatest sports stories in the history of sports: being able to become a world champion from Disney Channel. Now I'm lasered in," Paul said after the fight.
Paul, with friend and GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy ringside, was fighting his third bout of the year. He had suffered the first loss of his career to Tommy Fury, brother of heavyweight champion Tyson, back in February. However, he bounced back against former UFC star Nate Diaz in August. Meanwhile, August was continuing his return to boxing after a four-year hiatus. He had previously scored a decision victory in August to officially mark his return to the sport.
KSI No Longer Wants Jake Paul Fight
Paul's bout with August was fought in front of a smaller crowd than the former YouTuber had previously drawn. In the days leading up to the fight, it was still being reported that the fight had failed to sell out. This led KSI, a long-time rival of Paul, to declare that he was no longer interested in fighting the former Disney Channel star. "Yeah, he ain’t got any hype anymore. I ain’t wasting my time to fight him lol," KSI wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
However, it appears that Paul knew what he was getting into. "This is probably just a break-even fight for me. I probably won't even make money on it. Who knows what the outcome is. It's $200,000 for a private jet to fly around just to get me there and back," Paul told TMZ earlier this month. August was Paul's most experienced opponent to date. Furthermore, the swift and brutal nature of his victory will go a long way to helping Paul find the balance between competitive fight and audience draw.
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