"To be honest," Bivol told us just days after Paul scored a violent knockout win over Andre August, "I like that the guy who's not boxer, he really loves the sport."

"We see he's training hard. I respect him for this."

Of course, when Paul first got into the boxing biz, many saw it as a gimmick -- as he was fighting social media personalities and former professional athletes. In fact, Canelo Alvarez said back in 2020 that Jake and his brother, Logan, were displaying a "lack of respect" for the fight game with their choices of matchups (an opinion he later changed his tune on).

But, Bivol made it clear to us he's loving what he's seeing from Jake -- saying the 26-year-old is taking all the right steps when it comes to being a real-deal pugilist.

"He's going and doing his fighting," said Bivol, who beat Canelo back in May 2022. "He's not just like, 'I will beat everyone' and think like this."

Paul is currently 8-1 in his career with five knockouts -- and he's made such an impact on the sport through his nine fights so far, Team USA boxing just partnered with him so he can help promote Olympic fighters as they get ready for the Paris Games in 2024.

As for Bivol's own boxing career -- he's got a big tilt coming up this weekend against Lyndon Arthur on DAZN's Day of Reckoning card ... but, if he gets by that matchup, don't expect him to get in between the ropes with Paul anytime soon.