Jake Paul Wants World Title Shot In 2026, Eddie Hearn ‘Scared’ Of Nate Diaz KO Threat

Jake Paul is keen on fighting for a world title in 2026 following some warm words from Oscar De La Hoya. 

The ‘Problem Child’ recently secured a unanimous-decision win over Nate Diaz, as he took his boxing record to 7-1.

Although that may be the case, the fact of the matter is that Paul has only fought one professional boxer in the form of Tommy Fury.

And when he did face Fury, Paul came second best as he lost a split-decision. Therefore, Paul has some way to go if he is to target a title in a sport where the finest margins make the difference at the highest level. 

However, De La Hoya did praise Paul for bringing in a new generation of fans to the sport. The pay-per-view numbers with Fury and Diaz showed that.

The former fight did 775,000 pay-per-views, while the latter did over 500,000. In response, De La Hoya had this to say. 

De La Hoya On Paul

“Thank you Jake Paul for introducing young fans to the sport I love the most. You have a lot of sh!t to work on in the ring but in time I believe you will challenge for a world title,” De La Hoya

And now Paul has responded by setting his next goal. 

Paul On Wanting A World Title

“I think after he [Oscar] saw the performance of me going ten rounds, throwing 500 punches in ten rounds… which is more than Canelo averaged per round in his last fight, people are like ‘Oh my God.

“People are like ‘Oh my God he went ten rounds, what could he look like in three years?’ Because 2026 is when I’m saying I’ll fight for a world title. I think this fight did something to make people finally realize that I wasn’t joking. Maybe people thought I was just saying for marketing and to create hype, but maybe now they realize that I’m being dead f—— serious,” Paul

Ultimately, Paul is managing to forge a new niche for himself. And if that has the impact of bringing in new faces, then that can only be a good thing. 

Hearn On His Beef With Diaz

Meanwhile, Eddie Hearn has responded to Nate Diaz’s threat after the latter vowed to knock him out for his comments about the MMA fighter. 

Those comments came in light of Hearn’s feeling that Diaz’s fight with Jake Paul was far from pleasant.

Despite the fight going the distance in a match where Diaz was making his boxing debut, the fight was devoid of much action.

The only moment that did generate a lot of buzz was when Paul landed a left hook to send Diaz to the canvas in the fifth round.

However, the latter managed to get up as the fight went the distance. In response, Hearn had this to say. 

“It was awful. ‘Don’t get me wrong, the event was unbelievable. You did a great job. Brilliant. But when you’re talking about — you know MMA like the back of your hand. I know boxing like the back of my hand, and I’m watching that thinking [face in his hands], “This is so bad.

“The reason that Nate didn’t get stopped is that Jake didn’t have the ability. He doesn’t know how to break a fighter down, cut off the ring, beat him up, and stop him. But I give my props to Nate: super tough. Super tough. But you’re talking about low, low level in terms of standard,” Hearn

In response, Diaz vowed to make Hearn pay.

“Eddie Hearn I’ll beat all ur fighters a**es. Lightweight, middleweight, Heavyweights, any weight, all of them will get f***ed up.

“And unless it’s complimentary keep my name outta your mouth cause u might get it also. And fighters check your promoter so he doesn’t get u guys punked,” Diaz

This is not the first time that Hearn has managed to ruffle a few feathers. His back-and-forth with John Fury has resulted in the latter promising to knock him out.

Although nothing has materialized by way of a fight, Hearn did admit that he was concerned by Diaz’s comments. After all, the latter is still very much active in MMA.

“If Nate Diaz does see me, please don’t choke me out. I’m a big fan, genuinely I’m a big fan of Nate Diaz, he’s a very good boxer.

“But, I promote some of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, so I’m not saying he can’t box, but he can’t box at that level,” Hearn