Five things you need to know about Jake Paul's rumoured next opponent

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is the current favourite to be Jake Paul's next opponent, according to reports.

Should a showdown between the pair come into fruition, it will be the first boxer Paul will face inside the ring.

The social media superstar has had five fights as a professional so far, beating former UFC champion Tyron Woodley twice, Ben Askren, ex-NBA star Nate Robinson and AnEsonGib.

Paul has expressed interest in facing Chavez next after snubbing the chance to reschedule a bout against rival Tommy Fury.

"It's interesting. I like that fight a lot, because it silences the critics," Paul said to Chris Mannix.

"He was a former world champion, and I know I could beat him. And you look at his record, it's like 50 wins or something, and I don't even know the losses, but it's a good record.

"So that challenge excites me and I'm down. And this is what people don't understand is that, even after I knocked out Woodley, they were all like, 'Fight a real boxer.'

"I'm like, 'You guys, I tried, and he dropped out of the fight two weeks before.' So I want to fight a real boxer, newsflash, and I'm going to. Just have some f**king patience."

Planet Sport has taken a look at five things you need to know about Chavez ahead of a potential fight against Paul.

Chavez is a third-generation fighter from the boxing world. His older brother Omar Chavez had a 45-fight, 16-year career as a professional. While he didn't win any major titles, the same cannot be said about their father, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr.

Regarded as the greatest Mexican fighter of all-time, Chavez won 87 consecutive fights from 1980 to 1993 and remained undefeated until 1994.

From 1990 to 1993 - during a time where he dominated the light welterweight division by retaining and winning multiple world titles - he was rated by Ring Magazine as the best Pound for Pound fighter in the world.

His win over Greg Haugen in 1993, with his WBC title up for grabs, set the record for boxing's largest attendance for an outdoor arena at 136, 274. Chavez retired with a boxing record of 107-6-2 and won multiple world championships in three divisions.

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. followed in the footsteps of his father by becoming a world champion on the professional scene.

The Mexican fighter defeated Sebastian Zbik for the WBC middleweight title and went on to make three successful defences, including an impressive win over Irish legend Andy Lee in 2012.

After beating Lee, Chavez took on Sergio Martinez with the Ring Magazine title also on the line but he would suffer his first defeat on points.

In front of a sold-out crowd of 20,510, Canelo defeated Chavez in dominant fashion, winning every round on all three scorecards (120-108).

Chavez barely threw or landed a punch throughout the contest and the crowd shared their frustrations by booing Chavez in the later rounds.

Stats via CompuBox showed that Canelo connected 228 of 604 punches thrown (38%) compared to Chavez's 71 of 302 (24%).

In 2012, Chavez made the second defence of his WBC middleweight crown against fellow Mexican Marco Antonio Rubio.

While 14,000 fans attended the event in San Antonio, Texas, it was the viewing figures in their native which was the more impressive with an estimated 19 million people tuning in to watch the battle.

Chavez landed the better punches and overcame a determined Rubio to earn a unanimous decision victory over his compatriot. The judges scored it 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113 in favour of Chavez.

This may be the reason Jake Paul has an eye on facing Chavez.

The former world champion may never have been in the mix to compete at world level again, following defeats to Canelo Alvarez and more recently Daniel Jacobs, but not many expected Anderson Silva, at 45, to defeat Chavez.

For those who aren't aware of Silva, he is considered the greatest UFC fighter of all-time. He dominated the middleweight division for more than a decade but left the sport in 2018.

We guess the writing was on the wall when Chavez entered the bout nearly three pounds over the 182-pound weight limit. Silva - who had not laced up a pair of boxing gloves since 2005 - outboxed Chavez throughout their eight-round bout and earned a split decision victory (75-77, 77-75, 77-75).