Jake Paul Confirms Christmas Eve Fight Against Kickboxing Star

After months of speculation and doubt over his future in boxing, days after announcing his comeback, Jake Paul has officially revealed his next fight.

This announcement will, of course, divide opinions, as Paul admitted his boxing career was in serious doubt after Anthony Joshua broke his jaw in two places in his last fight, forcing him to have teeth removed and two titanium plates placed in his jaw.

The knockout loss to Joshua was only the second of Paul's career as a professional boxer, the first coming in 2023 when he lost a split decision to Tommy Fury - a loss he has made abundantly clear he wants revenge for in the future.

But that is on hold as Paul will now look to rebuild his boxing prospects by taking on a very dangerous combat sports athlete.

Jake Paul to fight Cedric Doumbe

Doumbe is a multi-time world champion across multiple disciplines; most famously, he is a two-time Glory kickboxing welterweight world champion and, since converting to MMA, scored a viral 9-second knockout in his PFL debut and called out Paul after the victory.

The fight will be held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai and will be a professionally sanctioned eight-round cruiserweight fight with 10oz gloves. Doumbe is therefore naturally the smaller man but, without doubt, carries the power advantage, with nearly 50 knockouts to his name across his professional combat sports career.

"Jake Paul calls himself the Problem Child but he's never faced a problem like me. He has no idea what a Frenchman like me is capable of," Doumbe said in a statement on the PFL's instagram. "Jake loves to talk, and so do I, but after what [Anthony] Joshua did to his jaw, I'm not sure how much talking he has left. I'm going to finish the job Joshua started.

"I'll be waving le Tricolore flag over his unconscious body. France this one's for you.

Paul also had a chance to release a statement of his own to kick off the build-up to this Christmas Eve Showdown, admitting that he will be out of practice and that there are still concerns about his jaw, likening the fight to Oleksandr Usyk vs. Rico Verhoeven.

"Cedric Douchebag was calling me out two years ago after knocking some dude out in nine seconds," Paul said.

"Well Douchebag, now you get your chance. I'm rusty, my jaw is janky and I don't have kickboxing world titles like you do. But guess what, this isn't kickboxing. This is boxing. Just like Usyk feasted on Rico Verhoeven, I am going to eat you for dinner in Dubai on Christmas Eve."

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