Jake Paul put his money where his mouth was against Anthony Joshua this past December. Five months later, there’s a possibility it may have been his final walk to the ring.

Paul, 29, suffered the second loss of his 14-match boxing career when Joshua stopped him in Round 6 of their heavyweight clash. It was Paul’s first time being finished and resulted in a gnarly broken jaw that’s kept him sidelined ever since. Speaking Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Paul revealed that he’s expecting to get scans in the next few days to see how his injury is healing. But with his doctors not wanting to see Paul compete again, “The Problem Child” has started to acknowledge that as a possibility.

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“We’ll see what my doctors say,” Paul told Uncrowned regarding his fighting future. “I’ll be able to get a more accurate timeframe, or can I even fight again? That is definitely in the realm and possibilities of things [that I can’t]. [The jaw] does feel a lot better as weeks and time goes by, but I definitely need to get cleared first to be able to spar.

“Most definitely [my fighting future is in doubt],” he added. “It just depends on how the bone heals. Then, also, there’s a tooth missing [in the back]. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to get an implanted tooth of some sort. I’m not sure how much time that’s going to add to things, but we just have to see and figure out what the smartest thing is for me.”

Paul has already exceeded everyone’s expectations since he arrived in the sweet science in 2018. Not only has he stuck with boxing, outside of competition he’s also put a strong focus on the promotional side with his Most Valuable Promotions, which is set to host Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano this Saturday in Netflix’s first MMA venture.

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Although Paul knows there’s a reality he may have to face with an early in-ring retirement, he’s still hopeful that things don’t go down that road.

“Those [doubts] have come up, but I’m not done,” Paul said. “I can just feel it in my spirit and my soul, and my heart that I have more fights left and unfinished business in my mind. Injuries are a part of any sport. I think potentially this could be a good outcome. You could tear an ACL and be out, and keep on tearing it and tearing it again. It’s just a part of any sport, and I definitely don’t think I’m done and want to keep on fighting.”

Jake Paul tested himself against one of the heavyweight division’s best in Anthony Joshua and hasn’t been seen since.

(GIORGIO VIERA via Getty Images)

To make Paul’s current situation all the crazier, he wasn’t even initially supposed to fight Joshua. Instead, Paul was set to face 135-pound lightweight Gervonta Davis, in a match that arguably had even more of a freak-show element due to the vast size discrepancy between the two.

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Ultimately, Paul came up short in December, but he still has zero regrets. Even if he never steps foot in the boxing ring again, Paul feels like a winner in the grand scheme.

“I think it was such a win on so many different levels, and I had a really good experience,” Paul said. “Just overall, such a net positive for me, my companies, my fighting experience, my content, and yeah, I just really will fight anybody, to be honest. I’ve been saying that, and I think people now believe me, but I’m here for entertainment purposes.

“I think I had to lose in that way, almost, for people to be like, ‘Alright. He’s not that bad. He’s got heart. He went longer than I thought.’ So it actually felt like a win.”



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