Paul was born on January 17, 1997, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up in nearby Westlake alongside his older brother, Logan Paul, with whom he would later share much of his career. He began posting short comedy videos to Vine around 2013 as a teenager, and several of his clips went viral, quickly building him a large young audience well before he had any formal entertainment-industry backing.

Paul became one of the top stars on Vine by the mid-2010s, and when the app shut down in 2017 he moved his following to YouTube, where he continued building his audience through vlogs and stunts. He briefly landed a role as Dirk on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark from 2016 to 2017, but was let go after controversy over his behavior in his neighborhood. He then formed Team 10, a collective of young content creators based out of a Los Angeles house, turning his online fame into an early media business rather than just a personal brand.

Photo: Erik Drost via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Paul transitioned into boxing starting in 2018 with an amateur exhibition bout, then turned professional in 2020, methodically building a boxing career against a mix of fellow influencers and former professional athletes. His wins included victories over Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice), and Nate Robinson, along with a notable loss to Tommy Fury in 2023 that dented his unbeaten record. His biggest moment came in July 2024, when he fought 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a heavily promoted bout streamed live on Netflix, winning by unanimous decision in an event reported as one of the most-streamed sporting events ever. He continued his boxing career through 2025 and 2026, cementing a career path that few would have predicted from his Vine-era beginnings.

Photo: Erik Drost via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Paul’s annual earnings have climbed sharply since his move into professional boxing, with major fight purses now forming the bulk of his income in years when he steps into the ring. Combined with revenue from his business ventures and continued digital-media income, industry estimates have placed his total annual earnings in the tens of millions of dollars in his biggest years, a dramatic jump from his purely influencer-driven income in the Vine and early YouTube era. Unlike traditional professional boxers who fight several times a year for modest purses, Paul has followed a model closer to a major pay-per-view star, headlining a small number of heavily promoted events that each generate outsized paydays.

Paul’s boxing purses have grown substantially as his profile and pay-per-view drawing power increased, with recent bouts reportedly earning him tens of millions of dollars per fight. The payday for his July 2024 fight against Mike Tyson was widely reported to be in the region of $40 million, reflecting both the record-setting viewership of the Netflix-streamed event and Paul’s status as one of the biggest draws in combat sports, on top of everything else in his career.

Beyond fight purses, Paul has built ongoing revenue through business ventures that function similarly to endorsement and sponsorship deals, including his mobile sports-prediction and betting app Betr, which he co-founded in 2021. His profile as a boxer and media personality has also made him a valuable partner for sponsors tied to his fight cards and broadcasts, adding another income stream layered on top of his boxing earnings.

Paul co-founded the boxing promotion company Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) with his brother Logan Paul in 2021, a venture that promotes his own fights as well as other fighters, including women’s boxing star Amanda Serrano. He also co-founded Betr, a mobile sports-prediction and betting app, the same year, giving him a stake in the fast-growing sports-betting industry beyond his own athletic career. He has additionally been reported to hold interests in real estate and other consumer brand investments, broadening his business footprint beyond boxing and media.

Paul owns a large estate in Puerto Rico, where he has spent significant time, partly for tax-related reasons tied to the island’s favorable tax incentives for residents. He also owns a home in the Los Angeles/Calabasas area, giving him a base near the entertainment and boxing industries while maintaining his primary residence in Puerto Rico.