The March altercation between Jake Paul and Floyd Mayweather might have been a little more stressful than it initially appeared ... because new police video, obtained by TMZ Sports, shows a cop actually had to rush Paul to safety amid the chaotic confrontation.
The dustup went down outside of the Kaseya Center in Miami following the Heat vs. Cavaliers game on March 8 ... and in the new footage, you can see police seemed to be very concerned a real fight could break out between Paul, Mayweather and their entourages.
The video shows Floyd approached Paul first in the street near the arena ... before getting into a verbal spat with the social media star and his friends.
As the guys were arguing, an officer on the scene called for backup -- saying there could be "a fight" with "a couple celebrities." Seconds later, Jake can be seen in the footage taking off.
That's when the video shows a Miami Police Dept. officer racing toward Paul to make sure he was safe.
The cop can be seen in the footage ushering the 26-year-old back inside the NBA arena -- making sure no one followed. As he was taking Paul for cover, the YouTuber-turned-boxer told the cop, "They're trying to jump me."
For several minutes, the cop guarded the door as Paul and his team waited inside the building for a car to take them away from the area.
You can hear in the footage they believed Floyd had around 50 people with him.
Eventually, Paul made it out of the area without further issue.
Jake later took to social media to blast Floyd for running up on him with a bunch of his guards and his friends. Floyd's jeweler, meanwhile, told TMZ Sports later in March that Paul was "exaggerating" about the whole situation.
Things have since calmed down between the two ... but everyone's still wondering -- is a fight in the boxing ring now eventually coming??