ET chatted with Paul ahead of his anticipated rematch against Tyron Woodley, airing Dec. 18 on Showtime PPV.
Jake Paul always knew Olivia Rodrigo would go far!
The YouTuber-turned-boxer shared early memories of his former Disney Channel co-star and how he spotted her pop superstar potential early on. Paul and Rodrigo both starred in Bizaardvark, which ran for three seasons from 2016 to 2019. Now, Rodrigo has taken over airwaves with her hits from her debut album Sour, and TV screens with High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.
"I would be in my dressing room and she would be in hers, and I would just hear her singing from down the hall, playing the piano, and she was just always super talented, super nice," Paul told ET's Denny Directo. "She was an amazing actor, everyone on that set and that show was super talented.
"But Olivia just had something special, and I'm good at spotting talent," he continued. "It's what I did with Team 10. That's what I'm starting to do with boxing now. And so, I just know a star when I see [one]. And I told her, I was like, 'Yo, I'm gonna brag about knowing you one day.' Yeah, and I guess that day has come, full circle...I hope she can walk me out to one of my fights one day."
Up next for Paul, he's set to face off against former MMA World Champion Tyron Woodley in a highly anticipated rematch on Saturday, Dec. 18.
"I'm feeling the best I've ever felt going into a fight. You know, for me, the last fight, it answered a lot of the unanswered questions that I even had about myself. And now I have that experience under my belt. I'm better than ever and had an amazing training camp, switched up a lot of things," he shared. "I'm 10 pounds lighter, brought in a nutritionist. So just everything is better, in zen mode, kill mode, ready to go."
The undefeated boxer shared that what made Woodley the perfect opponent to replace Tommy Fury was "his willingness to step up, first and foremost, and have the balls to step in on late notice."
"And obviously a lot of people wanted to see the rematch," he continued. "He did get the tattoo and it was a massive pay-per-view event the first time. And so, it's gonna be even bigger this time."
Paul, meanwhile, couldn't be happier to have the support of girlfriend Julia Rose.
"It's amazing. When you find your person and your best friend in this world, and she's just so sweet, so caring and she's very supportive. She's a part of this team, you know," he expressed. "She's an important part of the team and she's always there for me whenever I need her. And having someone like [that], that's such a blessing."
As for making things official with Rose after she added his last name to her Instagram handle, he said, "We're getting there." "I think we both wanna take that next step. We both wanna have kids," he shared. "We'll see what happens after all these fights. Right?"
The athlete also shared why this fight is for fellow influencers who have been counted out, sharing it's "an important one for me."
"So many influencers, YouTubers, we get labeled into a box and people don't think we can do anything outside that box. They don't think you're talented. They don't think you can accomplish anything," he relayed. "And if you try to go into a different vertical, all of a sudden you're criticized. So I wanna be the example for influencers, TikTok or YouTubers that don't take no for an answer. You can go into wherever it is that you want to go, and work hard and accomplish whatever it is that you want. I'm the prime example of that."
"Because coming into this as a YouTuber, coming into professional boxing, they're saying, 'Oh, you is a YouTuber. He's a YouTuber. We're not taking him seriously,'" he continued. "Well, what if I was? What if I was just a landscaper and I wanted to box? No one would say, 'Oh, he was a landscaper. You couldn't box.' So why is it that since I'm a YouTuber, I can't box. And that's just the point I'm trying to show people."
Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley II airs Dec. 18 on Showtime PPV.
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