Jake Paul Title Shot 'Closer Than We Think,' Ex-Champ Antonio Tarver Says

TMZ

Jake Paul could be competing for a boxing championship REAL soon -- so says Antonio Tarver, who tells TMZ Sports El Gallo's entry into the WBA cruiserweight rankings is paving the way for the opportunity.

Transcript

00:00well you know i was really looking to see uh what chavez jr would show up i thought that will

00:07that would have really determined how this fight was going to go um but he came in uh as expected

00:14you know um didn't really see the conditioning that i wanted to see from a guy that had an

00:21opportunity like this and uh you know chavez senior was there in heart and spirit and emotions

00:28and everything you know he came up there and believe it or not i think he came up there and

00:34really got chavez jr going those last few rounds he should have probably came up on that on the ring

00:40apron probably around the third round could have probably made a difference but after chavez after

00:46chavez senior went up there and got in junior's ear you can see that he came out of that corner with a

00:52little bit more you know urgency i just wish senior could have did that probably around three

00:58could have been a different fight if chavez had some real conditioning but for what i saw

01:03the fact that jake was able to stay poised and you know you guys don't understand how hard that is to

01:11stay in control round after round after round now he didn't get a little fatigued until around round

01:18eight but that's a 10 round three minute fight bro and if you ain't a professional boxer you ain't going

01:2610 rounds with nobody you understand so the reason the way he was able to control

01:31himself and stay you know a couple times he started to get wild maybe once or twice he threw a wild

01:40overhand right or something but he had a mental note to stay in his form and i thought that was the

01:46where i saw the most improvement you know i mean and it sounds you're like you're impressed by that

01:52antonio and yeah because here's a guy that hasn't had an amateur background he didn't start from that

02:00olympic pal aau he didn't start from that so to pick boxing up late and to you know be at the level

02:09that he's at right now where you know he was a prospect before this past saturday but when you beat a guy

02:17with 60 fight experience i don't care if it's 60 taxi taxi drive 60 guy fighting 60 fight experience

02:25and you only have really three professional fights because everybody else was other type of athletes

02:33bro that is really you know advancing you know i mean um because when you look at it he's only been

02:41doing this probably about six seven years yeah and uh from what i've seen 200 pounds seem to be his

02:47best weight he looked good in his skin yeah you know what i mean but of course he's gonna have to

02:52like i said learn how to process this game a little bit quicker a little bit easier and that just takes

02:59reps it just takes reps you know i mean but i'm excited to see what happens next he's in the top 14

03:05you know and when you have a voluntary defense now this is where it's you know jake paul is in a great

03:12position when these guys are up for a voluntary defense that means they can fight pretty much

03:17anybody in that top 10 top 15 you know what i'm saying why wouldn't a guy give a guy like jake paul

03:26a real opportunity because they're gonna feel that hey man i'm probably gonna come in this fight to

03:32favorite right you feel me yeah i can and it's gonna be a big fight you know what i mean it's

03:37gonna be a huge fight and i don't have to take that real crazy risk i probably have a better chance of

03:44beating a guy on my experience and you know rather jake paul wins or lose fighting for the world

03:51championship man that's a win you know that that event would be crazy and all it takes is one punch

03:58you know we know that all it takes is one punch you know i mean so that opportunity is just great

04:05it'll be great and i think jake paul is closer than we think i really do wow so what you're saying

04:11that antonio it's not that he has to he's at 14 now he doesn't have to work his way up into the top

04:1610 i mean he could land himself a title shot right where he is at this moment that's what you're saying

04:22right i'm saying that because i know the business yeah you feel me yeah once you crack the top 14

04:29now if jake offer a guy that is not in a mandatory spot see sometimes you got to fight your mandatories

04:36but if you have a voluntary defense you want to fight the guy that's going to put the most money in

04:42your pocket especially and going to give you uh the best chance to win so that in itself evens out

04:49and that makes jake paul one of the guys that these fighters would love to fight because on paper

04:56they should be able to beat him they should be able to beat jake paul in a championship fight

05:02you know i mean so that's what makes it interesting i think he's closer than we think he called out some

05:08names i think everybody from said body jack aside from tank davis to to anthony joshua is it

05:16big range there what do we think about the call outs man you know jake gonna keep his name buzzing

05:24you know i'm saying he gonna attach his name to all the big names in the game and you know we can

05:29expect that but you know for real for real though a bottle jack a bottle jack fight probably by the end

05:36of the year you know and bottle jack is up in age a little bit he's the older of the cruiserweights

05:42and i think energy wise energy wise i think jake might be able to you know compete you know i'm

05:49saying with the right training camp now let's let's not get that mistaken he's gonna have to cross all

05:55the t's and dot all the i's but i think that type of fight will be more realistic you feel me more

06:02realistic bottle jack older in the tooth has had some wars the antonio tarver thank you brother i always

06:08appreciate your time thank you man and hey i got a little hitter too kenzel williams y'all remember

06:14that name he's coming it's gonna be my guy my little protege right here in tampa florida man

06:18got his first fight july 11th at the uh boxer gym in miami with my man mateo so we looking and

06:25we're excited about that remember that name kenzel williams

06:29you

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