TMZSports.com
Exclusive

Jake Paul Open To Fighting Heavyweight Champ ... Says Biz Partner Nakisa Bidarian

Jake Paul, in the wake of his historic fight with Mike Tyson, has been called out by everyone from Andrew Tate to heavyweight champ Daniel Dubois, who just flattened Anthony Joshua. The question -- is the Problem Child interested??

Yes -- down the line -- according to Nakisa Bidarian, Paul's business partner and MVP co-founder ... who joined Babcock on the TMZ Sports TV show (airs nightly on FS1) this week after their record-setting night on Netflix.

DANIEL DUBOIS KOs ANTHONY JOSHUA 😱😱

OH MY.

(via @DAZNBoxing)pic.twitter.com/9MnNcGhZ8L

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 21, 2024

"I think Jake views that he would do well against Daniel Dubois in the next couple of years. Not today. He just fought at heavyweight for the first time. But that's the fight that definitely interests him," Bidarian said.

If you're not familiar with the 6'5", 250 lb. IBF champ, he's only 27 years old ... and is coming off a knockout victory over AJ at Wembley in September, where Joshua was stopped in the 5th round after being sent to the canvas 4 times.

In addition to Dubois and Tate, we also mentioned Ryan Garcia and Gervonta Davis -- who are both smaller than Paul -- and light heavyweight champ Artur Beterbiev as potential opps who have dropped Jake's name in the wake of the win over Iron Mike.

Nakisa says they've got *potential* interest in all those guys ... except for AB, and he explained why.

"I think of all the names you mentioned, [Beterbiev's] the one that just doesn't interest us, because Artur has achieved the top of the sport. Right? Yet he hasn't achieved much at the box office. So he really needs Jake Paul to help propel his bank account and his success outside of the ring. He's 39 years old. It doesn't really make a lot of sense."

In other words, Beterbiev, 21-0 with 20 knockouts, possesses the unfortunate combination of being a super dangerous fighter with little commercial appeal ... and with his 40th birthday just two months away, he's not a viable opponent.

But, Bidarian makes it clear ... Paul's only been fighting for a few years, and he isn't going to rush into a bad situation before he's ready.

As for how he's already disputed the sport, Nakisa says it's something that's never been done before.

"[Jake] is by far the most impactful boxer four years into his career inside and outside of the ring, no matter what metric you want to look at outside of being a champion."

There's much more with the MVP co-founder ... including whether they're open to working with Netflix -- the streaming giant reached 65 million households and ranked as the number one rated program in 78 different countries -- in the future.

Check out full interview with Nakisa!

Click here for info about our online advertising practices.