Jake Paul has said he will retire from boxing if he loses to MMA star Cedric Doumbe on December 24 in Dubai.
It will be Paul’s first fight since he was stopped by former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last December.
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Paul had to have two titanium braces and some teeth removed after the Briton broke his jaw in that fight, but he will be back in the ring for the first year.
“It’s a dangerous fight,” Paul said on social media. “Cedric has been up there with the killers his whole life. He’s a two-time world champion and he’s afraid of no one, ‘Vanilla Gorilla’ in me.”
“But this is my game. No kicks, no tackles, no glass on the floor, we’re calm.”
“If he wins, I’ll hang up my gloves and call it a day, but if he loses, the man who calls himself ‘The Best’ will be beaten by a YouTuber with a titanium jaw.
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“Yes, Cedric Doumbe, I, Jake Joseph Paul, knock you down, shame you and win on Christmas Eve. This fight won’t go far, and someone is sleeping in the Middle East and it’s not Santa.”
Paul, a social media producer turned professional fighter, said in May that his boxing career was “definitely” in doubt after the injuries he sustained against Joshua.
The 29-year-old American will now return to professional action at eight rounds at cruiserweight with fighters using 10oz gloves.
Paul has won twelve of his fourteen professional fights, with two defeats coming against Tommy Fury and Joshua.
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In July 2025, Paul earned a spot in the WBA cruiserweight title after beating former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., but lost that title in January after a defeat by Joshua.
Paul became the two-time heavyweight champion of the world before being stopped in the sixth round.
Cameronian-born French Doumbe is a multi-time kickboxing world champion turned MMA fighter.
He signed the 34th year of the Professional League of Champions – an MMA promotion that Paul Valuable Promotions joined in July.
He has won two of his three fights joining the PFL in 2023, but only has one professional boxing title to his name, which he won in 2015.
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