Jake Paul Says He Will Retire From Boxing if He Falls to Cedric Doumbe on Christmas Eve

Jake Paul says he will walk away from boxing for good if he cannot beat Cedric Doumbe later this year. Paul is scheduled to meet the former kickboxing champion in a sanctioned, 10-round cruiserweight bout on Dec. 24 in Dubai, and he says anything less than a victory would bring his career in the ring to an end.

The Christmas Eve contest will be Paul's first appearance since a knockout loss to Anthony Joshua last December, a defeat that left him with a broken jaw. The 29-year-old carries a professional record of 12 wins and 2 losses, with 7 of those wins coming by knockout.

Speaking in a video published to his YouTube channel, Paul laid out the stakes in blunt terms. "If he wins, I will hang up the gloves and call it a day," he said.

Paul also used the video to taunt his opponent and predict a violent finish. "But if he loses, the man who calls himself 'The Best' just got beat up by a YouTuber with a titanium jaw," he said. Paul vowed to knock out, embarrass and defeat Doumbe, insisting the fight would not go the distance and that "someone is getting put to sleep in the Middle East and it's not Santa."

Doumbe, a 34-year-old from France, is a former world kickboxing champion who owns a 6-1 record in professional mixed martial arts. His professional boxing experience consists of a single bout, a win recorded in 2015, and he has not competed in any combat sport since May 2024.

Paul admitted that he thought seriously about retirement over the past year while recovering from the injury Joshua inflicted. The broken jaw required multiple surgeries, performed in December and February, and left a lasting mark on the outspoken fighter.

"Honestly, after Joshua, part of me thought about quitting, never boxing again," Paul said. "He broke my jaw. I have two titanium plates in my mouth. I couldn't eat for weeks. I couldn't even talk or smile at my bank statements."

Paul said he spent night after night lying in bed asking himself, "Do I still want to do this?" In the end, he told viewers, the answer was clear: "Yeah, obviously I still want to do this."

For now, Paul says his focus is squarely on Doumbe and on making sure the Christmas Eve bout ends with his hand raised, not with the retirement he has promised if he comes up short.