Jake Paul set to return Dec. 15: ‘My destiny is to be a world champion’

Jake Paul will be back in the ring on December 15.

Jake Paul will make his return to the boxing ring on Friday, Dec. 15, with a fight against an opponent to be named, which will be on DAZN, and not DAZN pay-per-view.

Paul (7-1, 4 KO) has fought twice this year, losing a split decision to Tommy Fury on Feb. 26 in Saudi Arabia, then bouncing back for a 10-round decision win over ex-UFC star Nate Diaz on Aug. 5.

It’s worth noting that Dec. 15 was previously reserved for one of the “Most Valuable Prospects” shows that Paul was promoting, but it appears that idea may be dead. The Amanda Serrano fight on Oct. 27 was also supposed to be one of the dates for that series. Turns out promoting “prospect shows” isn’t that fun or lucrative, perhaps especially when your roster has one serious prospect.

But that’s a story for another time.

The interest in Paul’s fights is still out there, and he’s going another direction with his promotional stuff now, saying he’s focusing on winning a world title in boxing, however absurd a notion this might be.

“My destiny is to be a world champion and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get there,” he posted on social media. “December 15th is the next step in that journey.”

The hard truth that Paul might not want to hear — if he’s genuinely serious about this, and let’s treat it as so just for discussion’s sake — is that “doing whatever it takes” to become a world champion boxer absolutely has to include:

1. Dropping all “content creation” and general social media life focus and strictly focusing on boxing, period. Nothing else. It has to be 100 percent boxing.
2. Getting significantly better than he is at boxing at the age of 26, having only taken it up at all fairly recently.

Even if Paul were a more talented fighter than he is, the odds are against anyone who takes up the sport when he did becoming a world champion, even in a diluted era with a lot of paper belts out there, and a lot of marketing on your side.

This also continues the recent trend of Jake Paul and Ryan Garcia echoing one another’s statements. Two peas in a pod!