Jake Paul scores first-round KO over Ryan Bourland

Influencer-turned boxer Jake Paul faced his third boxer in his last four fights on Saturday in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  Paul took on former Golden Gloves champion Ryan Bourland in the fight card’s co-main event.  

After taking on mostly retired mixed martial artists, Paul has made an effort over the last year to seek out actual boxers as opponents.  He lost to Tommy Fury via split decision in February 2023 in his first fight against a boxer but knocked out Andre August in the first round of his last fight.  

While Bourland is a “real” boxer, he’s only fought twice in the last six years.  He last fought in September 2022 defeating Santario Martin by TKO.  The previous bout was in 2018.  Paul made the walk to the ring for the tenth time in his career while Bourland had twice the amount of in-ring experience.  

Paul looked to establish his jab early.  He bounced on his feet and began targeting the body.  Bourland pressed forward with punches but Paul moved out of range.  Paul dictated the pace.  He went on the offense and went to the body and then the head.  He connected with a combination.  A right hand wobbled Bourland.  Bourland covered up and Paul delivered a right hand.  Paul unloaded a series of punches.  Most missed but at least one got through.  Bourland fell to the canvas and the referee stepped in and stopped the fight.  Paul won by TKO.  The official time of the stoppage was 2:37 of the first round.    

“I wanted it to be a little bit longer to give the fans some more time,” Paul said in his post-fight interview.