Jake Paul and Oleksandr Usyk had an unexpected face-off following the Ukrainian’s win over Daniel Dubois.
Usyk once again became undisputed heavyweight champion by claiming a dominant fifth round knockout win over Dubois, reclaiming the IBF belt in the process and adding it to his WBC, WBA and WBO titles to cement his status as the best heavyweight on the planet.
Attention has already turned to who Usyk may take on next following the win, and despite most people expecting the likes of Tyson Fury and Joseph Parker to be linked, YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul has thrown his name into the ring.
Paul was last in action in June when he defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a cruiserweight bout, and has also been linked to a heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua in recent weeks.
It seems that Paul could now be targeting a shock battle with Usyk though, after facing off with the Ukrainian and posting a message on social media outlining his one condition for the potential match-up.
“Congrats to one of the greatest heavyweights of all time Usyk on a huge win. I respect you a lot. Now we do an MMA match for the world.”
“Well Jake Paul, you know, when it comes to Jake Paul we’re not talking about the boxing because we would be probably put in the jail for murder … we all understand we can’t put Jake Paul and Oleksandr in the ring for boxing, there is no way, and Oleksandr will never do that, but of course because Jake Paul was a wrestler and what I heard he was a good wrestler when he was growing up, he knows how to wrestle, he knows how to fight a little bit. I think MMA would be the perfect thing to do.”
While Paul may have become one of the biggest names in the sport, a fight with Usyk is likely not one that many fight fans would want to see next, but as has been proven in combats sports for a number of years, anything can certainly happen.