Oscar De La Hoya Believes Jake Paul Can Be World Champion

Oscar De La Hoya is convinced that Jake Paul will someday have the ability to call himself a world champion in boxing.

Paul has been ruffling some feathers in the world of combat sports. His popularity as a YouTuber has led him to lucrative boxing matches. He’s set to take on former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley this Sunday night (Aug. 29).

Paul has been criticized for expressing his desire to fight Canelo Alvarez, who is widely considered to be the best boxer in the world. Oscar De La Hoya has a different take, however. He told The Sun that he truly believes Paul can become a world champion.

“I admire him for his courage. I admire him for just being so adamant about becoming world champion and I see the talent in him. I strongly feel that he’s set in his heart that he can become world champion and I really believe that he can.

“He does have skill, he doesn’t have the experience that people might be criticizing him about, but that’s going to happen in time. He happens to have a lot of followers, therefore he has a lot of criticism but that comes with the territory.”

Back in June, Paul told TMZ Sports that he can see himself fighting Canelo three years from now.

“I just want to continue to be the most disruptive boxer in the history of the sport. That means taking this on a fight-by-fight basis and continuing to get even bigger and take on more and more serious opponents. If you told me where I was gonna be at three years ago, I wouldn’t believe you. So I don’t even wanna think about, or ‘cap’ myself, with the possibilities. I’m open-minded and I think anything is possible.

“I think I could be fighting against Canelo Alvarez for the WBC or the WBO championship belt. Why not, baby? A lot of people are afraid to try, they’re afraid to get up out of their seats, they’re afraid to do something different,” Paul continued. “But that’s them, that’s not me. I know I can accomplish anything I set my mind to, and that’s why there’s a difference between successful and non-successful people in this world. So really, the sky is the limit. It’s just about how seriously I take it, and I do take it seriously. More seriously than 99% of these ‘professional’ boxers that are out there.”