A fight between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul is in negotiations for a heavyweight bout in December on Netflix in Miami. The particulars about whether it’ll be a sanctioned match, the exact date, and the venue have yet to be determined.
Joshua’s Reputation Takes Another Hit
The reaction from fans on social media to the Paul-Joshua fight negotiations is overwhelmingly negative. They see the fight as a joke, given that the former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua, 36, is fighting an unproven cruiserweight, Paul (12-1, 7 KOs), who gained his following by being a YouTuber.
It’s a race to the bottom for Joshua, who doesn’t seem to care about cultivating a legacy. Why would Joshua risk his reputation against a YouTuber? The payday that AJ can make fighting Jake Paul crushes what he could get fighting the less popular fighters like Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma, and Fabio Wardley. What makes it even better for Joshua is that he has a far better chance of winning.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Joshua is taking this fight for financial reasons, as he has been doing so for some time. The four-fight rebuild job against tomato cans below Jake Paul’s level showed that he wasn’t trying to fight the best.
The risk involved in AJ fighting the unproven Paul is that if he loses the fight, his legacy will be tarnished permanently. He can’t afford to lose to him without fans viewing him as a fighter who was never as good as he was made out to be. It was bad enough that fringe contender Andy Ruiz knocked out Joshua in June 2019, and came close to getting beaten by 40-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017.
Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, views the fight as a well-paying tune-up that will help AJ prepare for a bigger match in 2026 against what he hopes for, Tyson Fury.
According to Mike Coppinger, Joshua and Paul are “finalizing a deal” for December. If the deal gets done, Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) would be the replacement opponent for Jake’s originally scheduled exhibition fight against Gervonta Davis, which was supposed to have been shown on Netflix on November 14th in Miami, Florida. The match was recently canceled due to Tank Davis’s legal problems.
If the Joshua vs. Jake fight is made, it will be interesting to see how the promotion plays out. Joshua isn’t a trash talker. Hearn and Jake Paul may need to do most of the heavy lifting in building interest in the fight, as Joshua will likely take a backseat, being a wallflower. Is the Joshua–Jake Paul fight actually going to be sanctioned? I believe it will. If Joshua vs. then 0-1 Francis Ngannou was sanctioned as a professional fight on March 8, 2024. Joshua-Paul will be sanctioned as well.
Eddie Hearn’s Money Machine Keeps Spinning
Joshua’s net worth is estimated at $240 million. Fighting Jake Paul gives Joshua a chance to get a huge payday that could rival what he would make fighting the faded 37-year-old ‘Gypsy King’ Fury.
In the U.S, Paul, 28, has a larger following than Fury on social media, and it’s a fight that would likely generate more fan interest. Fury isn’t well thought of by Americans for obvious reasons. He looked terrible in his two fights against Oleksandr Usyk and his match against Francis Ngannou.
AJ wasn’t always rich. So, it’s understandable for him to have the mentality of making as much money as possible, staying in the sport to pad his bank account, and needlessly fighting guys like Jake Paul. Can Eddie Hearn actually sell this fight to real boxing fans? With the combination of Jake’s massive following on Instagram, YouTube, X, and TikTok, and the event being shown on Netflix, the match will bring in a massive number of new subscribers to the network giant that will want to watch.