Jake Paul scored a first-round, highlight-reel knockout of Andre August on Friday night in Orlando, Florida, to signal the second act of his boxing career as he looks to establish himself as a cruiserweight title contender.
Paul (8-1, 5 KOs) uncorked a right uppercut that caught August clean and bounced him off the canvas headfirst. The referee waved the bout off with 28 seconds remaining in the opening round.
"Set up my shot and he went night night," said Paul, who was accompanied by his brother Logan Paul, WWE's United States champion. "This is all part of the process, the next step to world champion. Clearly these guys can't hang with me."
It was Paul’s first victory against a pure boxer, with his only other matchup against a traditional boxer ending in a split decision loss to Tommy Fury.
Paul, 26, characterized his fight against the little-known August as a commitment to fighting boxers rather than MMA fighters in his hopes of winning a world championship. Before facing August, Paul had taken on MMA fighters in five of his seven fights and fought one YouTuber.
Before the fight, Paul looked unusually loose before his ring walk, climbing on his brother’s shoulders as the two laughed.
The 35-year-old August entered the match with a career record of 10-1-1, which was basically the reason Paul chose to fight him despite a lack of name recognition. Paul told USA Today before the fight he had heard the call-outs of "Fight a real boxer," but still criticized his opponent's footwork and predicted he wouldn't land a punch.
That number didn't quite bear out, but it was close. Paul out-landed August 8-6 in their only round of fighting, per Compubox. It was August's second fight in four years, having previously returned to the ring in August after not fighting since 2019.
August (10-2-1, 5 KOs) returned in August to score a decision in a six-round fight to end a nearly four-year layoff. The 35-year-old represented Paul's most experienced foe yet.
"Right now, I'm focused on being the best in the world and creating one of the greatest sports stories in the history of sports: being able to become a world champion from Disney Channel," Paul said. "Now I'm lasered in."
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