Jake Paul vows retirement if he beats Cedric Doumbe

Jake Paul says he will retire from boxing if he loses to former kickboxing world champion Cedric Doumbe this Christmas.

The 29-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer made the promise on his YouTube channel ahead of his December 24 return to the ring.

It will be his first fight since Anthony Joshua brutally knocked him out last Christmas, leaving Paul with a broken jaw.

Paul has been recovering from that injury for the past year.

His meeting with Doumbe will be contested at cruiserweight over eight three-minute rounds.

“This is a dangerous fight,” Paul said on his YouTube channel.

“Cedric has been in there with killers his whole career. He’s a two-time world champion and he’s not scared of anybody, including me ‘The Vanilla Gorilla’.”

Paul then laid out his retirement ultimatum in plain terms.

“But this is my sport. No kicks, no takedowns, and no glass on the floor, we checked. If he wins, I will hang up the gloves and call it a day, but if he loses, the man who calls himself ‘The Best’ just got beat up by a YouTuber with a titanium jaw.”

Paul addressed Doumbe directly in the video.

“So Cedric Doumbe, I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock you out, embarrass you and defeat you on Christmas Eve. This fight is not going the distance and someone is getting put to sleep in the Middle East and it’s not Santa.”

Paul’s last win in the ring came in June 2025 against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., just months after his victory over Mike Tyson.

Doumbe, 34, is a two-time kickboxing world champion who made the switch to MMA in 2021.

He has not fought since knocking out Jaleel Willis over two years ago.

He does have some minor boxing experience on his record.

Fans reacted quickly to the announcement, with many expressing frustration.

“Just another no name that has some fighting accolades so Jake can get SOME credit when he flatlines the guy,” one commenter wrote.

Another questioned: “Back to MMA guys, really?”

Another enraged fan wrote: “Nobody watching this bs.”

One fan did not hold back: “So you’re boxing another MMA guy that hasn’t fought in a few years. Sticking to the original playbook.”

The fight is scheduled for Christmas Eve in the Middle East.

Paul’s opponent was initially expected to be Darren Till, a former UFC middleweight.

BKFC president David Feldman confirmed that Till lost the Paul fight to Doumbe.

Feldman told MMA Fighting that BKFC will have “big names” for Till “very shortly.”

“We’re going to have some big names for Darren Till in the mix very, very shortly,” Feldman said.

“One of them will be part of our announcement we’re going to make in the next couple weeks.”

Feldman explained the decision not to loan Till to Paul.

“It comes to do we have something for Darren Till that makes sense? Is the timing going to be right? If we have to lay him off for eight, nine months, it’s only fair to let him go out and make a payday because the momentum’s going to be killed anyway if we don’t have a fight for him. But if we have a fight that I think we’re going to have in the next two weeks to announce, then obviously he’s fighting for BKFC. If we don’t then there is an option for him to possibly to fight a Jake Paul or something like that.”

Paul is coming off a “chess match” against Yoel Romero at BKFC 94.

The retirement promise adds high stakes to a fight that fans are already skeptical about.

If Paul loses, he says he will walk away from boxing entirely.