Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn says Anthony Joshua “needs to destroy” Jake Paul in their fight on December 19th. He has to do that because of the gulf in experience and pedigree between them.
“Some people say, ‘Is AJ going to go easy on him?’ No. And certainly when he’s saying things like that,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV, reacting to being told that Jake Paul said Anthony Joshua is ‘Washed up.’ “He’s kind of got boxing riding on him a little bit in this fight.
The experience that the former two-time heavyweight champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) has might not matter if he’s “washed up,” as Jake (12-1, 7 KOs) points out.
“Obviously, he needs to go in and destroy him. This is very real. Once you get hit by AJ, you’ll know all about it. As soon as AJ hits him on the chin, the fight’s over. Terence Crawford to make this kind of money. He probably could have made more money than he did against Canelo.
Paul believes AJ was shot, and the way he looked in his last fight against Daniel Dubois makes it hard to disagree with that label. Dubois cleaned Joshua out, dropping him four times before knocking him out in the fifth round on September 21, 2024.
“To make that kind of money, he had to beat one of the greatest fighters of our generation. There’s no one in the world that wouldn’t accept the kind of money that we’re getting for this fight. We would have accepted half the money. Sorry, MVP. How can you not? Of all the paydays of his career, it’s right up there,” said Hearn about Joshua.