If the hoorah showman was hoping the heavyweight champion would be drained by fighting at his lowest poundage for years, Anthony Joshua has been quick to rain on that phase of Jake Paul‘s parade.
As he came to the scales 1.6lbs inside the 245lbs limit imposed by The Problem Child, AJ insisted: ‘I’ve made the weight easily. No problem.’
Balancing this Friday’s act between the accomplished and experienced Joshua and Paul the brilliant entrepreneur but smaller man was always going to be a delicate judgment.
Jake Paul shows his emotions at the weigh-in before the big fight on Friday night
Anthony Joshua had previously stood by his claims he would ‘kill’ Paul in the ring
Joshua has weighed over 250lbs in his occasional bouts of late and to make this more of a fight than a mismatch Paul should probably have ordered him to make 240lbs.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn claimed the credit by overstating to camp Paul how heavily his man walks around between fights.
The disparity between them was emphasised at the official weigh-in as Paul – at 216.6lbs – scaled some four pounds less than when he defeated Mike Tyson in his only previous incursion into the heavyweight division… and nearly two stone lighter than Joshua.
And, oh dear, when he roared ‘champ you know who I are’ he clearly did so through a sore throat and a bad cold.
Joshua was not yet in the building to hear that. Not that he needed to be.
So far it’s all good news for him.
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Anthony Joshua weighs in almost TWO STONE heavier than Jake Paul ahead of blockbuster Miami showdown