ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jake Paul is set to take the biggest risk of his unique boxing career on Saturday night when he faces former middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr. at Honda Center.
Paul (11-1, 7 KOs) is facing his most accomplished opponent yet when he takes on the 39-year-old Chávez (54-6-2, 34 KOs) in front of a raucous Orange County crowd.
Chávez has fought once since 2021 and is best known for failing to maximize the potential in his famous father’s genetics. He is still the most credible boxer by far to share the ring with Paul, who is now 5 1/2 years and 13 fights into his lucrative boxing tenure.
Paul has successfully leveraged his Internet ubiquity and his own hard work to become a force in the business of boxing, if not in championship bouts. He has founded a busy promotional company and flirted with mixed martial arts while becoming one of the most important combat sports athletes in the world on his unique career path.
Paul has mostly fought mixed martial artists and fellow online celebrities, and he took his only loss in February 2023 when he stepped in against actual boxer Tommy Fury, whose fame also exceeds his ring skills.
Paul hadn’t fought since last November, in a much-hyped bout that couldn’t live up to improbable expectations from fans who didn’t understand the simple realities of Tyson being 58 years old.
Chávez was away from the ring for three years before his return late last year, but Paul’s invitation brought him back again — along with the thousands of fans who eagerly bought tickets in perpetual support of their champion.
Chávez has fallen to innumerable lows during a lengthy boxing career conducted in the shadow of his father, one of the most beloved athletes in Mexican history. The son has failed drug tests, served suspensions and egregiously missed weight while being widely criticized for his intermittent dedication to the sport.
He still rose to its heights, winning the WBC middleweight title in 2011 and defending it three times. Chávez shared the ring with generational greats Canelo Álvarez and Sergio Martinez, losing to both.
Chávez even lost in 2021 to Anderson Silva, the former UFC champion and rudimentary boxer who lost a one-sided ring decision to Paul one year later.
Paul’s career as the world’s most popular pugilistic sideshow could change soon: His financial potency makes it almost inevitable that he will be invited to fight under a sanctioning body’s aegis, which means he could likely book a bout against an elite boxer whenever he chooses.
On the solid undercard in Anaheim, 43-year-old former UFC star Holly Holm returned from a 12-year absence from the boxing ring to dominate previously unbeaten Yolanda Guadalupe Vega Ochoa.
New Jersey welterweight Julian Rodriguez then earned a thrilling victory in the waning moments of the 10th and final round, staggering Avious Griffin with a sneaky left hand and eventually knocking the previously unbeaten Griffin sideways into the ropes for a stoppage with 5 seconds left.
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AP boxing:
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