Boxing Star Caleb Plant Open To Jake Paul Fight

Caleb Plant is down to be Jake Paul's next opponent after El Gallo gets done with Julio César Chávez Jr. -- telling TMZ Sports he'd love to get in the ring soon with the former YouTuber and mix it up.

The 23-2 fighter had nothing but kind things to say about Paul while out at The Mayan in downtown Los Angeles earlier this month ... but he said if Jake really wants to throw hands and make some cash in the near future, he's all for it.

"I mean, if he wants to get in there and rumble," Plant said, "we can do that."

Of course, Plant will have to get through Jose Armando Resendiz on May 31 before he even thinks about a Paul tilt -- and he made it clear, he's laser-focused on that matchup.

"I'm not taking him lightly," Plant insisted.

But when he talked about Paul, it was easy to see he has huge respect for the 28-year-old's guts.

Plant told us he appreciated Jake was already in a good place before he got into the combat sport ... explaining, "He didn't have to start boxing."

"It takes a lot of hard work to do what we do and takes a lot of balls, too. Even though being in the position he was in to still get in there in front of everybody and risk losing or coming up short, you know that says a lot about a man's character."

"I tip my hat to Jake," he added.

If Paul's not the next in line, there's always, of course, Jermall Charlo -- whom Plant had big beef with back in 2023.