YouTuber Jake Paul faces Anthony Joshua in Miami, banking on \u201cdelusional optimism\u201d despite safety concerns and Joshua\u2019s training with champion Usyk.<\/p>\n
MIAMI: YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul is banking on \u201cdelusional optimism\u201d to secure an upset victory over former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.<\/p>\n
The pair will clash in a made-for-streaming eight-round heavyweight bout on December 19 in Florida.<\/p>\n
Paul, 28, who controversially defeated 58-year-old Mike Tyson on Netflix in 2024, faces a significantly younger and more experienced opponent in the 36-year-old Joshua.<\/p>\n
The event has reportedly arranged for both fighters to split a massive $184 million purse.<\/p>\n
Safety concerns have been raised across boxing due to the significant physical mismatch between the 6ft 1in Paul and the hard-hitting 6ft 6in Joshua.<\/p>\n
Former world champion David Haye warned this week the fight could be Paul\u2019s \u201clast day on earth\u201d.<\/p>\n
The British Boxing Board of Control stated it would not have sanctioned the fight on safety grounds.<\/p>\n
Paul\u2019s limited professional record stands at 12 wins with one defeat and seven knockouts.<\/p>\n
He faces a substantial height, weight, and reach disadvantage against Joshua, a 2012 Olympic champion and two-time unified heavyweight titleholder.<\/p>\n
Joshua boasts 28 career wins with 25 knockouts against only four defeats.<\/p>\n
During a promotional face-off, Paul was asked if he had \u201clost his mind\u201d by taking the fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to challenge myself against the best,\u201d Paul replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to go to war and the best man will win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paul attributed his success to his unique mindset.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have gotten to where I am today because of delusional optimism,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s delusion until it\u2019s not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua, who towered over Paul during the event, promised an emphatic victory.<\/p>\n
After praising Paul\u2019s \u201csolid\u201d mentality and vowing respect, Joshua outlined his brutal intentions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I\u2019m gonna be honest, I\u2019m gonna break his face, I\u2019m gonna break his body up, I\u2019m gonna stomp all over him,\u201d Joshua said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s my mentality, a fighter\u2019s mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua also revealed he has been training in Spain with reigning heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n
He split with former trainer Ben Davison, citing London as \u201ca bit distracting\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was invited to train with team Usyk,\u201d Joshua explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsyk\u2019s one of the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
He described gaining insight from Usyk\u2019s team as \u201cphenomenal\u201d. \u2013 AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YouTuber Jake Paul faces Anthony Joshua in Miami, banking on \u201cdelusional optimism\u201d despite safety concerns and Joshua\u2019s training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":300927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[8075,64,63,802,172033,9225,85],"class_list":["post-300926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-anthony-joshua","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-eight-round-heavyweight","tag-jake-paul","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}