Jake Paul’s Top 15 rating received a surprising, positive review from the present cruiserweight titleholder.
Jake Paul prolonged his current winning streak by defeating Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. last month by unanimous decision. Just hours after his victory, Paul entered the cruiserweight rankings for the primary time in his polarizing profession, coming in at No. 14.
After Paul’s rating, several contenders reached out to WBA with scathing criticism of the ruling, which led to his rating now being put ‘under review’ by the association. It’s uncertain if Paul’s rating will probably be pulled or if he’ll remain at his current Top 15 spot.
Paul has drawn heavy criticism throughout his boxing profession, most recently from interim WBC titleholder Vergil Ortiz Jr. After becoming eligible for a possible cruiserweight title shot, Paul received a surprising defense from WBA cruiserweight titleholder Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.
Jake Paul gets a surprising defense of Top 15 rating from WBA champ
Paul and Ramirez had a transient faceoff after Paul’s victory over Chavez. Paul has called Ramirez ‘easy work’ and ‘too slow’ as he attempts to lure the cruiserweight champion towards a booking.
Despite Paul’s trash talk, Ramirez has an interesting perspective on Paul’s WBA rating, contradictory to lots of the division’s vocal contenders.
In a recent interview with TMZ Sports, Ramirez was asked about critics of Paul’s Top 15 cruiserweight rating, and provided a surprising response.
“He made an announcement, beat one in every of the [former] champions from Mexico,” Ramirez said.
“It was an amazing performance for what he did, and I give credit to Jake Paul because at the top of the day, he fought a world champion. He’s doing good on this sport…everyone knows it won’t be a good fight because I’m a champion, world-class champion, No. 1 rating…
“People know him and at the top of the day, I would like to unify the undisputed title, and that’s my goal.”
Ramirez, on the identical night Paul defeated Chavez, outpointed Yuniel Dorticos by unanimous decision to retain the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles. He’s won 4 consecutive fights since suffering his first profession loss to Dmitry Bivol in Nov. 2022.
Jake Paul’s comeback confirmed just weeks after Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. win
As the controversy rages on regarding Paul’s cruiserweight standing, the polarizing boxer may very well be just a number of months away from a return to the ring. Paul’s manager Nakisa Bidarian announced that he’s targeting a return to boxing in either November or December against a to-be-determined opponent.
Ramirez could potentially face Paul for his next title defense, depending on where Paul’s rating stands after the approaching weeks. Paul has repeatedly expressed interest in becoming a world champion before hanging up the gloves.
We’ll proceed to update you on this developing story as details change into available.