2021 was Jake Paul’s year and he earned it.

At the time, the veteran NFL star running back thought he could beat Paul. Gore had been training boxing for more than a decade up to that point. But Gore kept watching. He watched Paul knock out NBA veteran Nate Robinson in November 2020. And then Paul knocked out MMA champion Ben Askren last April.

Gore watched Paul beat former UFC champion Tyron Woodley in August by split decision. On Saturday, Gore was on the bill for the Paul vs. Woodley rematch against NBA All Star Deron Williams, and after their fight, he saw Paul knock Woodley out in the sixth round.

“Every time he got in the ring, brother, he got better and better,” Gore said earlier this week. “They say YouTuber, now, the guys he beat? You’ve got to take your hat off to this man. I respect what he’s done.”

This has been a year of silencing the naysayers for Paul, who is still just 24 years old. Many still exist. And Paul has yet to fight anyone with real professional boxing experience. But Paul’s huge right hand was an exclamation point in a remarkable stretch. Over the past 12 months, he won three times with two knockouts and, perhaps more importantly, emerged as one of the most profitable pay-per-view stars in combat sports.

“Look at what I just did,” Paul said after stopping Woodley in their rematch. “Look at the year I just had. Unprecedented. One of the most valuable fighters in the sport. Four fights. Four massive pay-per-views in 13 months. I’ve knocked out every single person I’ve fought.”

In addition to what he’s done in the ring, Paul is making a big mark outside the ring. He and advisor Nakisa Bidarian started Most Valuable Promotions, which has promoted Woodley’s two fights. Like Floyd Mayweather, the biggest box office star in boxing history, Paul is promoting himself. If you open BoxRec and look at Saturday’s card, one of the promoters listed is “Jake Paul.” Imagine reading any of those last lines a year ago.

“The perception has changed immensely and rightfully so,” Paul said this week. “When I came into this, I had a lot to prove. People didn’t understand me. They didn’t understand my move. They thought I was making a mockery of the sport. And now people really see what I’m doing. They respect me, they respect my work, they respect the business aspect of it.”

The magnitude of what Paul is doing may have been even more evident in the co-main event, where Amanda Serrano, ESPN’s No. 3 pound-for-pound fighter, defeated Miriam Gutierrez by unanimous decision. Serrano, the first non-Paul fighter on the Most Valuable Promotions roster, has been an excellent boxer for the better part of a decade. But she received a massive ovation Saturday here at Amalie Arena, her social media following has skyrocketed and now she’s eyeing perhaps the biggest fight in women’s boxing history next year against Katie Taylor.

Serrano said at the post-fight press conference on Saturday that she had been offered the Taylor fight before, but the expectation is that, at this point, it could be a seven-figure payday.

“The price that was offered [before] wasn’t what we’re getting now,” Serrano said. “Jake Paul definitely helped with that.”

Paul has been an advocate for fighter pay and has become the driving force behind this recent novelty boxing trend, with MMA athletes taking on boxing luminaries, and athletes from other sports and celebrities also getting in on the act.

“Without fighters, there’s no f***ing show,” Woodley said this week. “I think maybe that [started] some different thought processes in these guys to recognize how valuable we are. And really start to see our value. If that’s what he’s doing, kudos to him.”

Paul’s next move is unclear. Perhaps it will be a showdown with Tommy Fury, who was supposed to fight Paul on Saturday but was forced to withdraw two weeks ago due to a broken rib and chest infection. Paul also called out UFC stars Nate Diaz and Jorge Masvidal after beating Woodley on Saturday. He mentioned Mayweather, Conor McGregor, Mike Tyson and even boxing’s top fighter, Canelo Alvarez, earlier this week.

Boxing traditionalists will continue to treat Paul as a joke. Some of what he does remains juvenile. But it’s hard to ignore the pay-per-view units sold, the attendance numbers (including an extremely young demographic at the fights) and, yes, even the knockouts.

“At some point,” Woodley said, “you have to start respecting Jake’s name.”