When Jake Paul first announced that he's boxing, the mere thought of a YouTuber getting in the ring turned a lot of sweet science purists off.
However, now 11 fights in, have many of those purists experienced a change of heart about Paul's presence in boxing?
Paul's boxing was broached as a talking point during Terence Crawford's recent visit with Logan Paul's IMPAULSIVE podcast and when "The Problem Child" came up, the consensus pound-for-pound best boxer believes that Paul is actually improving as a boxer.
But it took Crawford, who challenges Israil Madrimov live on DAZN this weekend, some time to warm up Paul boxing.
"At first I was against it and was like 'man, this dude ...'" Crawford began telling Logan about his brother.
"When people were coming at you and your brother negative about boxing, I was like 'yeah, these dudes are using their YouTube status to come in boxing and make all this money and you got all these boxers that's been doing it their whole lives that don't even come close to what they're making.' I said it was disrespectful to us in the game."
But then, Crawford experienced a change of heart.
"But after watching him and seeing the seriousness that he's taken to actually train and put the focus into the sport, I'm like 'yeah, this dude is really getting better,'" Crawford continued. "'He really can fight.'"
And his appreciation of Paul's boxing only improved when he saw him dismantle Ryan Bourland in March in Puerto Rico.
"I'm sitting there and I'm like 'this dude can punch with that right hand,'" Crawford tacked on, before saying Paul is working his way up aptly.
"For him, there's stepping stones just like any other fighter. A lot of people want Jake Paul to just go in there and fight Oleksandr Usyk.
"But no, you got to work your way up and that's what he's doing. When I seen him fight live, I gained way more respect for him than I already had."
Live on DAZN : Check your region for PFL and PFL Europe on DAZN . Click here for details.