Will Jake Paul fulfil his boxing dream and capture world championship gold?

Boxing News writer John MacDonald explains why it's entirely feasible that social media super Jake Paul will defy the beliefs of many and establish himself as a bona-fide boxing world champion.

This Saturday, the Jake Paul circus rolls into the Honda Center, Anaheim.

The YouTuber-cum-boxer faces, ostensibly, the toughest test of his professional career as he takes on former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

In keeping with Paul’s career to date, his opponent is; naturally smaller and over a decade older than him.

The outlier is that Chavez Jr is an actual boxer, opposed to a youtuber or mixed martial artist, but one who’s greatest attribute was his ability to make the middleweight limit.

The former Disney star has claimed that victory will see him receive a top-15 ranking with both the WBC and WBA, at cruiserweight.

Paul (11-1, 7 KOs) has spoken of his world title aspirations and it appears that facing the son of, Mexican legend, Julio Cesar Chavez is the first step towards turning that dream into a reality.

You may laugh at the prospect of a novice boxer with no amateur background challenging for a legitimate strap but, this is boxing; the sport is anything but a meritocracy.

As the Ohio native named two of the four major sanctioning bodies, let’s start by analysing the track record of those.

Firstly, the WBC, who with their prestigious green belt must be a bastion of integrity, right? No.

The Mexico-based organisation (WBC) has a long history of making unusual calls when it comes to sanctioning and rankings.

You need look no further than Manny Pacquiao, who will end a four-year retirement in July to face Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight strap. ‘Pacman’ is not currently rated within the top-15 but, will challenge for the title, despite his previous bout ending in defeat.

A recent example of an unjustified lofty rating is Francis Ngannou.

While the WBC drew the line of making the MMA fighter’s battle with Tyson fury a title fight, they rewarded the Cameroonian’s valiant losing effort with a spot in the top-10. Bear in mind, Ngannou had lost his only professional boxing bout.

Fittingly, Paul’s opponent, Chavez Jr, was the beneficiary of politicking by the sanctioning body.

The WBC engineered a situation where Sebastien Zbik became the mandatory challenger for, middleweight king, Sergio Martinez, having previously won the ‘Interim’ title.

The Argentinian had an exclusive broadcast deal with HBO, who refused to approve Zbik as an opponent - as such, Martinez was stripped, given the WBC diamond belt and ‘champion emeritus’ status.

Chavez Jr then captured the title by defeating Zbik, a fight which was televised on, you guessed it, HBO.

Despite this patchy history, the WBC are upstanding in comparison to their counterparts at the WBA.

The Panama-based sanctioning body have in the past: moved a fighter up in their ratings two months after he had passed away; ranked Slugger O’Toole and Fidel Castro Smith in the same division (they are one person) and at one stage, had 41 champions across 17 weight classes.

No, that last one is not a typo!

The WBA recognise and sanction; ‘Super’, ‘Regular’, ‘Interim’, and ‘Gold’, champions. Take a look at heavyweight; Oleksandr Usyk, Kubrat Pulev and Fabio Wardley all hold versions of a WBA belt.

They also have form for positioning late converts to boxing prominently in their ratings.

In 2017, night club owner, Joe Fournier was ranked No.11 in the world despite facing only one fighter with a winning record, never having a fight scheduled for more than eight rounds and testing positive for a prohibited substance.

The Englishman’s greatest achievement in boxing is befriending David Haye.

Given the profile of ‘The Problem Child’, each sanctioning body would likely love to have their belt attached to the social media influencer, and as such, we should take Paul at his word that victory would put him in position to fight for a world title.

Potentially, the YouTuber could face either Gilberto Ramirez or Badou Jack, the reigning champions for the sanctioning bodies in question.

Given that the former is a once-beaten southpaw and other is a 41-year-old natural super-middleweight, I know which seems more likely.

Likelier still, the WBA could sanction a vacant ‘Interim’ or ‘Regular’ title fight for Paul, against a handpicked opponent.

All things being equal, it is improbable that Jake Paul could win a world title on talent alone, but in this sport, you do not get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate. 

You can see all the latest Jake Paul vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr odds on our dedicated Jake Paul vs Julio Cesar Chavez Jr hub.