Jake Paul’s route to world title gold may have become a bit clearer as a new champion was crowned tonight in New Jersey.
The social media sensation has regularly told fans and media that he plans to become a boxing world champion, starting in the cruiserweight division. And he could be sent on that route if he answers the call of Paul Bamba, who just picked up the WBA Gold Cruiserweight world title.
Bamba, a former marine who was once matched with Tommy Fury, stopped Rogelio ‘Porky’ Medina at the Carteret Performing Arts Center in New Jersey to win the WBA title. And he has now set his sights on Paul as his next target.
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Paul Bamba wins WBA title with 14th KO in one year
In the main event of R&B Promotions’ latest show in Carteret on Saturday night, one-time super-middleweight world title contender Rogelio Medina took on Paul Bamba. The former marine who served in Iraq turned to boxing after his service, and has amassed an impressive professional record.
This year, with the help of Grammy Award winner Ne-Yo who acts as his manager, Bamba set forth to break the record held by Mike Tyson for 13 professional fights in one 12-month period. And he completed the task in style tonight, scoring a 14th consecutive stoppage win.
Medina battled hard in the early rounds but was dropped in the second by Bamba, before seemingly coming into his own as the fight progressed. However, after six gruelling rounds, he opted to quit on his stool, forcing a victory for Bamba.
Paul Bamba calls out Jake Paul after WBA title win
Following his victory over Medina, Bamba was quick to make his intentions clear. He wants to defend his belt in a bout with Jake Paul that could see him offer the YouTuber-turned-boxer an attempt at his first title with a serious governing body.
Speaking with Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat after the fight, Bamba sent a clear message to the social media star. “Jake talks a lot about wanting to be a world champion so my simple message to him is that I have something that you want; a real title.
“You can come get it, you can come fight for it or whatever, you can keep doing the gimmick fights. At the end of the day I’ve put in the work. You can say you’ve taken boxing seriously and yeah you’ve made a lot of money but you haven’t earned anything in boxing.
“If you think about how I started everything versus how everything is going now, I didn’t wait for an opportunity I created one. And I went out and grabbed it by the horns so to speak and did my thing this year.
“Look at the facts; 14 fights, 14 KOs in one year, how many belts have I got here? Five belts, two regional titles, an international title, a WBA Silver and now the WBA Gold World title which makes me the mandatory for Zurdo Ramirez.
“I’m actually doing s*** in boxing to where I’m getting ranked, why isn’t Jake doing that?”
Jake Paul has ambitions to become world champion
Paul has regularly spoken of his plans to win a world title since making his debut in 2020. He has defeated a number of UFC legends such as Anderson Silva, Nate Diaz and Tyron Woodley, but also briefly went the route of fighting legitimate boxers at the start of this year.
He brutally knocked out both Andre August and Ryan Bourland, who held 10-1 and 17-2 records respectively, before moving on to a big-money clash with Mike Tyson in November. In the meantime, he also knocked out Mike Perry.
“F*** the rankings,” he told media earlier this month. “It’s just a number. Who cares? People just want to classify things and do a numbers chart. I’ve never looked at the rankings. I couldn’t care less. I know I’m the best in the world and I’m going to be world champion.”
Asked about who he will fight next, he added that “There’s a long line out there and they can take a ticket and get in line to see who I want to fight next.
“I don’t say that as s*** talk – I’m the biggest payday in the sport of boxing right now, so everyone wants to fight. When you’re the hot girl on the block, you can do what the f*** you want.”
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