Jake Paul vs Andre August review: Paul makes a statement with brutal stoppage

Jake Paul got his first win against a professional boxer on Friday night with a devastating first-round knockout win over Andre August.

Paul had built up a 7-1 record in his first eight fights, but his previous wins had come against fellow social media personalities, a retired basketball player and MMA fighters.

The 26-year-old did test himself against Tommy Fury earlier this year, but lost on a split decision against the younger brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson.

That was Paul’s only previous bout against a professional boxer and he managed to come out of that contest with some credit despite the defeat, having recorded a knockdown late on.

The Cleveland-native bounced back with a decision win over former UFC star Nate Diaz, and his victory over August should back up his claims that he can compete at a higher level.

Paul proves his power but little else

August came into the contest with a 10-1-1 record and was expected to be a challenge for Paul, but the fight was over almost as soon as it began.

The ‘Problem Child’ landed a few jabs and shots to the body early on and then managed to set up a brutal uppercut, which knocked August unconscious in the first round.

The referee did start a count, but August was unable to recover as Paul claimed the fifth stoppage win of his career with a first round victory - as he had predicted in the build-up.

"I said first round knockout all week," he said in his post fight interview. "I manifested it and this is the power of manifestation."

While Paul’s reputation will have clearly been enhanced by his victory over August and the manner of it, there is little to take away from that performance in terms of how he would fare against a better opponent.

August made his debut back in 2013, but only returned to the ring following a four-year absence earlier this year and the defeat to Paul will almost certainly prove to be his final professional bout.

The 35-year-old was never in the fight with Paul and the contest was over inside two minutes.

Paul wants to fight his way up the rankings, but wasn’t given any kind of test on Friday and it still remains unclear as to how he would cope with the better cruiserweights and other ambitious fighters, given Fury should also be considered a novice at this stage in his career as well.

What next for Jake Paul?

Paul has made no secret of his desire to become a world champion, but it could be a while yet before he is able to engineer a world title fight.

The current cruiserweight champions are Britain’s Chris Billam-Smith (WBO), Australian Jai Opetaia (IBF), Armenian Norair Mikaeljan (WBC) and Frenchman Arsen Goulamirian (WBA).

All of those fighters are clearly a step too far for Paul at this stage and the governing bodies wouldn’t sanction a title fight yet either - but that doesn’t mean he won’t be able to work his way towards that level.

The American clearly has a big following and any fight involving Paul would generate plenty of interest, so there is a chance a world champion will be open to a fight with the YouTuber-turned-boxer in the not too distant future.

This is something that Paul himself is acutely aware of, as he says he is hoping to create "one of the greatest sports stories in the history of sports" by making the move from celebrity to world champion.

However, he needs to prove himself against better opposition first and Paul has confirmed he will look to take on a higher-ranked opponent next.

He added: "The next step towards becoming a world champion and clearly these guys can't hang with me. He [August] didn't even last two minutes and he's been doing this his whole life, so what's next, it's gonna be even bigger."

Fight fans probably won’t have to wait too long to discover his next move and there are reports he could name his next opponent within the next week.

Paul fought three times in 2023 and will potentially be just as busy in 2024, particularly if he keeps winning, and a rematch with Fury could also be a possibility.