Jake Paul sets sight on winning a legit boxing title, but not done with influencer boxing

Jake Paul has his eyes on being a world champion in the sport of boxing, but that doesn’t mean he’s done with influencer boxing.

Paul returns to the ring Friday against Andre August – a pro boxer, not an influencer-turned-boxer. The two are set to compete at cruiserweight in an eight-round bout.

These type of fights are the ones Paul is looking to get more of in the future, since he’s trying to pursue a legitimate boxing title. However, that path includes “side quests.”

“I think (I’ll do) some furthering down the path of some boxing names with more experience than me to get those reps underneath the lights and continuing that journey to world champion,” Paul told Sean O’Malley when asked about his plans. “But I think it would be fun to do the Tommy Fury rematch, (and) silence KSI and finally put that to rest. There’s some other big names out there, but I don’t think they will actually step into the ring with me.”

The bout with August is not getting much buzz compared to his previous fights with the likes of Tommy Fury or Nate Diaz. August might be one of Paul’s toughest fights on paper, and yet the attention is not fully there.

“It’s interesting. I just try to drown out all the noise from the moment we were going to announce this fight because this is a different journey, a different path,” Paul said. “This is not about the business. This is about the experience and the path to a road to world champion and taking the steps to get there and knowing that people around going to say a bunch of things: ‘Oh, this isn’t as big of a fight. Who is it?’ Blah, blah, blah.’

“None of that matters to me, and I’m focused on my goals, but it does feel different. This feels like sparring or something, vs. all the sh*t talk that comes with fighting a Nate Diaz or a (Tyron) Woodley or whatever this is.”