Jake Paul might be answering all of his critics on one night. The social media star turned boxer has been accused of feasting on a diet of older, smaller non-boxers in his lucrative fighting career, but on a Friday night in Miami next month, Paul could take the biggest gamble of his career.
Paul looks set to face the former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in a money-spinning Netflix boxing match in December. Paul was scheduled to meet WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis on Friday, but the fight was canceled due to the latest domestic violence accusations against Davis.
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The contest between Paul, who had his last bout at the 200-pound cruiserweight limit, and Davis, boxing’s 135-pound lightweight WBA champion, was viewed as a farce in boxing circles, not only due to the size gap between the pair but also because of the difference in experience and skill.
The event was also struggling at the box office and failed to capture public interest akin to Paul’s fight with Mike Tyson last November. Davis’ nonchalant attitude at media conferences and lack of promotion for the bout hadn’t helped matters either.
With Davis out of the picture, Paul needed another big-name opponent to satisfy Netflix executives, and with Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia unavailable, Paul’s camp seems to have landed on Joshua as the opponent — a far more dangerous proposition than Davis.
At long last, Jake Paul may be facing a bigger and badder boxer in former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
(Action Images via Reuters / Reuters)
In many ways, Joshua is the antithesis of Davis. While “Tank” leans into his reputation as boxing’s resident bad boy, Joshua represents the opposite end of the spectrum — a model professional who embodies what a modern sports role model should look like. He’s the symbol of British boxing, a fighter who carries himself with a level of polish, discipline and respect that few in the sport can match.
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Inside the ring, “AJ” is 36, active, 250 pounds and steeped in boxing pedigree — it’s everything matchmakers for Paul have avoided in one go. No doubt Paul deserves credit for proving his naysayers wrong and stepping into the ring with AJ — if it’s a real fight. The bout could materialize as an exhibition with modified rules.
Rewind to August 2018, when Paul made his amateur boxing debut against fellow YouTuber “Deji” on a white-collar boxing undercard. The event, watched by millions, was considered a circus, parallel to the real sport. It happened four weeks before Joshua’s unified heavyweight title defense against Alexander Povetkin at Wembley Stadium, where 80,000 spectators tuned in to watch the best heavyweight in the world and an icon of British sport deliver another scintillating performance. Nobody in their wildest imagination would’ve linked those two events together, nor predicted that seven years later, the winners of those nights would share a boxing ring.
When Paul first laced the gloves, he was already a multi-millionaire. There were countless other ways that Paul could’ve added to his millions, but he chose one of the hardest things he could’ve done — trade punches with experienced fighters. And for that, Paul deserves an enormous amount of credit.
With Joshua on a clear decline, coming off a 15-month layoff, surgery and a brutal knockout defeat, Paul will hope he has picked the right opponent and the right time for his gamble.
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However, Joshua is no 58-year-old Tyson. Even in 2025, Joshua is still one of the fiercest punchers in the sport. It should not be understated how dangerous an assignment this would be for Paul. Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou found out firsthand just how devastating Joshua is when they fought in March 2024.
A few months before that, Ngannou had surprisingly knocked down Tyson Fury and extended him the 10-round distance, losing a split decision. Ngannou’s performance against Fury led many to see him as a credible opponent for Joshua, but when he stepped into the ring with AJ, it looked every bit the mismatch that it should’ve been.
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And unlike Ngannou, Paul is not a former UFC champion or a natural heavyweight. Even if Joshua is a shell of what he once was, he should have no issues knocking out Paul in a couple of rounds. Paul’s peak is still many, many levels below Joshua’s trough, and so it could end up being a brutal night for the American next month in Miami.
There’s a valid argument that this is a fight that shouldn’t be sanctioned. In a properly regulated sport, the idea wouldn’t even make it to the table. But boxing is the wild west — loopholes everywhere, standards shifting by the minute — and so don’t be surprised to see Joshua vs. Paul on Netflix screens in December.