Heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois has confirmed he is serious about fighting Jake Paul after calling out the YouTuber-turned-boxer earlier this week.
Dubois is looking for his next opponent after stopping Anthony Joshua inside five rounds at Wembley Stadium in September.
And after watching Paul beat former heavyweight king Mike Tyson on Netflix last Friday, Dubois sent him a direct message on Instagram.
The message read: ‘Hi Jake, good business on the weekend but how would you feel fighting for the legitimate heavyweight championship of the world? This is Daniel Dubois calling you out, let’s get it on.’
The 27-year-old Londoner has now revealed why he messaged Paul and refused to rule out facing him in the future.
‘If Jake wants it with me, he can get it,’ Dubois told the Bricks To Riches podcast.
‘We messaged him, my dad and everyone decided, “Yeah, let’s call him out”. Even though it’s just publicity, you never know what can happen in this sport. It’s strange times.’
Paul has been called out by several high-profile names in recent days including the undisputed light-heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev and Carl Froch.
The American appeared to rule out fighting Beterbiev due to his lack of fans, but indicated that he would be open to Dubois’ proposal.
‘Man been boxing for 12 years, has over 100 fights between amateur and pro and fought on my undercard…hahaha,’ Paul wrote on X alongside a screenshot of Dubois’ message.
‘But f*** it… I’m going to have Nakisa talk to Frankie Warren and get you in line for the throne. Unlike Artur, at least you have a few thousand fans.’
Dubois is being lined up to defend his IBF title in February in Saudi Arabia, and it is almost guaranteed that it will not be Paul in the opposite corner.
A rematch with Joshua had appeared Dubois’ most likely option in the wake of their September bout, but the Olympic gold medallist is now expected to wait to see the outcome of Tyson Fury’s second fight with Oleksandr Usyk next month before deciding on his future.
That leaves Dubois without an opponent for now. His promoter Frank Warren has revealed talks with multiple potential opponents are ongoing, with former champion Joseph Parker emerging as a frontrunner to face Dubois.
