Jake Paul: Jaw ‘healing well,’ yet to receive clearance for sparring

Jake Paul is currently undergoing the longest hiatus of his professional boxing career following a jaw injury sustained during his knockout defeat to Anthony Joshua, the former unified heavyweight champion, last December.

Paul has had two surgical interventions on his jaw and is aiming for a return to the ring in early 2027. If this timeline is accurate, it will mark the first instance since his professional debut in 2020 that he has gone an entire year without a fight.

Although one might assume that this break would be difficult for Paul, he views it as a chance to recharge.

“I miss boxing,” Paul remarked to ESPN earlier this week.

He is currently fully engaged in his role as a promoter, as MVPW-02, featuring Alycia Baumgardner against Bo Mi Re Shin, is set to take place at the Infosys Theater at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

“But the time off definitely refills that energy and helped me miss it. It’s good to miss the sport because I hadn’t missed it in a while since I started.”

Paul mentioned that while his jaw is “recovering nicely,” he has not yet been cleared for sparring and has just begun working with the heavy bag.

“I actually just started getting back into training because hitting the heavy bag creates the vibration through the face and the jaw wasn’t able to heal doing that,” Paul explained. “But now it’s at a point where I can actually hit the heavy bag. So I’m just slowly getting back into it and trying to stay in shape a little bit.”

Paul will spend the year recuperating and actively promoting while he waits for clearance to resume sparring. He intends to return as a cruiserweight with aspirations of becoming a world champion. While some believed that the severe knockout loss to Joshua might be the end of Paul’s career, the YouTuber-turned-boxer considers it a catalyst for his growth as a fighter and for achieving his ambitions.

“I’ve been really pushing it the past six years, almost averaging three fights a year,” Paul stated. “It’s good to have some time to step back away from the sport and feel like I want to come back into it with a new energy.”

“I’m eager to get back into the ring but I don’t want to rush it.”