Jake Paul has declared that he will ‘respectfully’ knock Anderson Silva out when they meet next month.

On October 29, Jake Paul will take on the biggest challenge of his boxing career when he meets Anderson Silva in Phoenix, Arizona.

While the former UFC middleweight king may be 47 years old, ‘The Spider’ is still considered to be the clear favourite courtesy of what he’s already shown fans since making the move to the squared circle from mixed martial arts.

Silva is easily one of the best crossover stars to date and throughout his short time in boxing, he’s been able to enjoy the kind of swansong that he never got in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Many were actually surprised to see that Paul was willing to take on such a mammoth task but credit to him, he knows what his audience wants to see - and he understands just how big this fight could be.

This week saw the pair share a stage together for the very first time as they squared off and promoted their bout in the form of a press conference. As part of the proceedings, Chael Sonnen asked ‘The Problem Child’ whether he was able to properly prepare for this challenge given that he idolised Silva when he was younger.

Video: Jake Paul respectfully warns Anderson Silva

“One hundred percent. It all has to do with my previous opponents being d***heads. Anderson Silva is the nicest guy in the world and we love him. If my opponent is a d***head, I’m gonna treat him like a d***head and beat his f***ing ass, and I think people have seen that side of me.

“But, I respect this man. I’m still gonna knock him out, but respectfully knock him out.”

The strange road

It’s been an odd route for Jake Paul to get to this point in his combat sports run but at 5-0, he’s already made quite the splash.

AnEsonGib was the first man to step up and take him on as a professional and from there, he went on a run that included knockout triumphs over Nate Robinson, Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley, all of whom he had some kind of animosity with.

Anderson is a different breed entirely and he’s incredibly dangerous on the feet, inviting plenty of questions regarding just how prepared Paul can be for a veteran like him - and we're interested to find out.