Youtube star turned boxer, Jake Paul, has gained motivation after receiving high praise from Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya, who during his time as a pro captured world titles in six weight classes.
Paul was in action earlier this month, when he picked up a ten round unanimous decision over MMA icon Nate Diaz.
The victory was Paul’s first since suffering his first career defeat back in February, when he traveled to the Middle East and dropped an eight round split decision to Tommy Fury.
De La Hoya praised Paul for bringing new fans to the sport.
“Thank you Jake Paul for introducing young fans to the sport I love the most,” De La Hoya stated on social media. “You have a lot of sh!t to work on in the ring but in time I believe you will challenge for a world title.”
Paul, after seeing De La Hoya’s tweet, believes the retired boxer was impressed by what he witnessed in the Diaz fight.
“I saw one of the first ever tweets from a super respected boxer, Oscar De La Hoya, he is the first one to put on the narrative and agreeing with me that I will be fighting for a world title,” Paul said on his B/S podcast.
“I think after he saw the performance of me going ten rounds, throwing 500 punches in ten rounds… which is more than Canelo averaged per round in his last fight, people are like ‘Oh my God.’
“People are like ‘Oh my God he went ten rounds, what could he look like in three years?’ Because 2026 is when I’m saying I’ll fight for a world title. I think this fight did something to make people finally realize that I wasn’t joking. Maybe people thought I was just saying for marketing and to create hype, but maybe now they realize that I’m being dead f—— serious.”