With his second professional win, Darren Till may have established himself as the most feared name in the influencer boxing scene. Headlining the ‘MF & DAZN: X Series 21—Blinders & Brawls’ at the Vaillant Live in Derby, over eight rounds, he outboxed a courageous Darren Stewart, a former UFC fighter like Till. Now the 32-year-old ‘Gorilla’ is seeking fresh scalps to hunt.

Post-fight, Till went on a calling-out spree. It included KSI, under whose Misfits banner he fought. There was Tommy Fury, with whom he almost had a fight early this year. Even Mike Perry wasn’t spared. But there’s one more option: Jake Paul. The YouTuber-turned-boxer will face Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., who was once slated to fight Till, on June 28. So where does a Jake Paul fight fit into his plans? Or, for that matter, is Jake Paul even on his radar? It took an interview for Till to spill the beans on a potential matchup against ‘The Problem Child’ and his return to the octagon.

Darren Till on the Jake Paul fight: I’m ready if it comes my way

Speaking with Jamal Niaz, Darren Till gave his opponent, Darren Stewart, full credit for toughness and pressure. Later revealing that he’ll fight whoever Misfits puts in front of him, he expressed his frustration at fighters like Tommy and KSI, who reportedly backed off from a bout.

No sooner had he finished sharing his views on Dillon Danis, who was supposed to headline the Derby card with KSI, than the reporter asked, “Jake Paul is fighting the guy that you were meant to fight last year, Chavez Jr. What do you make of that fight? Obviously, he was very close to getting the Canelo fight, and that’s the guy that you want. That’s the money fight in this game right now.” So Darren Till had to make it explicitly clear.

“I’m a realist,” he said. “I’m not going to sit here and beg to fight KSI and Jake Paul. I’m not going to. I’m not a beggar at the end of the day. But if the fight’s there, the fight comes out, I’ll campaign for the fight.” Having said that, Till revealed that he still has one more fight under the Misfits contract. And that’s going to be a big one, potentially in Italy! Perhaps Till wanted to emphasize his increasing clout in the influencer boxing scene.

But does that mean he’s ruling out a return to UFC altogether? Till remarked, “When I left the UFC, I was going to take over the influencer scene, and I’m going to do that, and I might go back to the UFC. I might go back somewhere else, but I’m going to take over slowly.”

Keeping the doors open for a fight?

Interestingly, before the Stewart fight, Darren Till even tried to shield Jake Paul, who has often been at the receiving end of criticisms for fighting washed-out fighters. “Let’s just all stop being dummies for a sec,” he stressed. He went on to add that the whole narrative about Paul not being a real fighter has run its course.

The Liverpool-born fighter said, “He’s been boxing for years with a fully equipped team around him 24/7. Jake Paul is a fighter. He’s a boxer. He’s a fighter.” Despite his shortcomings and lack of skills, Jake Paul is a fighter, he claimed. “So, like, this narrative needs to go away.”

Last year, Till was scheduled to make his boxing debut on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson card of July 20. But the fight against Chavez Jr. had to be cancelled after Tyson suffered a mid-flight medical emergency. The whole card underwent a change. Darren Till subsequently fought an exhibition fight against Mohammad Mutie before his first professional fight against Anthony Taylor on January 18.

So it will be interesting to see whether, following his ‘big fight,’ he can attract Jake Paul’s attention for a mega-showdown.

What’s your take? Does Jake Paul vs. Darren Till make for an interesting watch?