Jake Paul’s boxing career has just taken its biggest leap yet.

In the World Boxing Association (WBA) rankings for the month of July, released Monday night, Paul debuted as the No. 14 contender in the world at cruiserweight — his first official placement in a top 15 by one of boxing’s four major sanctioning bodies.

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A top-15 ranking technically makes a boxer eligible to fight for the sanctioning body’s world title, so Paul can theoretically now challenge WBA and WBO unified cruiserweight champion Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez for his two belts next — if the respective boxers’ teams were to come to an agreement for the bout.

Paul and “Zurdo” shared a card this past Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, with the fighters winning unanimous decisions against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Yuniel Dorticos, respectively.

For Paul (12-1, 7 KOs), it was his second straight triumph over a former world champion, following his victory over a 58-year-old Mike Tyson this past November. Chávez Jr. shared the ring with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2017 and Daniel Jacobs in 2019, so he was perceived as a significant step up for Paul on paper. Chávez, however, didn’t truly try to win until the final couple of rounds.

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WBA president Gilberto Mendoza revealed before the bout that if Paul could beat the former WBC middleweight champion, he would be placed in the pioneer sanctioning body’s world rankings. Paul lived up to his end of the bargain, and now so has Mendoza.

Paul and Ramirez faced off in the post-fight press conference after the event, with Paul reiterating his desire to win a boxing world title.

“I want tougher fighters. I want to be world champion,” Paul said. “Zurdo looked slow as s*** tonight, that’d be easy work too.”