Undefeated boxing champion Terence Crawford commends Jake Paul on progress inside ring, calls for fight against 'real boxer'

Terence Crawford spoke very highly of Jake Paul, who remained unbeaten in his boxing career following his win against Anderson Silva this past October.

Crawford, who is also an undefeated pro boxer, joined Ariel Helwani last week on The MMA Hour, where he commended Paul on the progress he has made inside the ring. While describing how 'The Problem Child' has improved, he also mentioned that he feels it's time for him to fight a boxer next by saying:

"When you look at Jake Paul, he's been training for years. He's been fighting without headgear and fighting in the back of his yard. So, Jake Paul has definitely became a professional in this sport. I just want to see him fight a real fighter (boxer) at this point in time."

'Bud' didn't slight Paul's MMA opponents' fighting ability, but mentioned that if the influencer fought against an active professional boxer, it would allow fans and analysts to get a better idea of how good he really is. He added that it should be a realistic opponent and not a championship caliber fighter, saying:

"Any real boxer (next fight). Not an MMA fighter that you're bigger than. Somebody your own weight, get him a real fight, test him out. Not somebody in the top-10, just a real fighter that we can say, 'Okay, Jake, you fought such and such and he was ranked 15 or something.' You could gage from there."

Regardless of who he fought in his first two fights, Jake Paul has begun to earn some respect within the boxing community. Respect that many feel that he can build on should he be successful against an active boxer with a similar skillest.

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What's next for Terence Crawford?

Terence Crawford returns to the squared circle on December 10th, when he defends his WBO welterweight championship against David Avanesyan. This will be his first fight since his tenth-round TKO win against Shawn Porter last November.

It will be interesting to see whether the 13-month layoff will have a positive or negative effect on his performance in terms of his timing. He currently has an impressive 38-0 record with 29 of those wins coming via knockout.

There has been a lot of speculation on a potential Crawford vs. Errol Spence Jr. bout, however, the fight didn't end up coming to fruition. Perhaps if 'Bud' earns another convincing title defense, it will put the wheels in motion for the bout to be booked in 2023.