Two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will take on YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul on December 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Paul’s promotion company Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) and Joshua’s promoter Matchroom confirmed the bout on Monday, which had been rumoured since the cancellation of Paul’s proposed exhibition fight against lightweight world champion Gervonta Davis, which was scheduled to take place in Miami on November 14. That fight was cancelled after a domestic violence lawsuit was filed against Davis by his former girlfriend.
The fight will consist of eight three-minute rounds and will be streamed on Netflix.
Joshua, 36, is a former WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight world champion, but he has not entered the ring since he was stopped in the fifth round by fellow British heavyweight Daniel Dubois in September 2024, the fourth defeat of his professional career. Following that defeat, Joshua had surgery on an elbow injury but returned to training earlier this year, with his promoter Eddie Hearn stating their aim was to get him out before the end of the year in a “run out fight” where he could just “get back into the groove of fighting.”
Paul, 28, has fought 13 times in his professional boxing career, winning 12, but has never fought an active heavyweight. He first fought at the weight last November, against 58-year-old Mike Tyson, earning a victory on points over eight two-minute rounds. The bout was sanctioned as a professional bout by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations, but with some regulations based on masters boxing for amateur participants over the age of 35.
Paul’s last fight was a 10-round cruiserweight bout against Julio César Chávez Jr in California in June, which the American won by unanimous decision.
What’s in it for the fighters?
Analysis by Sarah Shephard
We saw just last weekend what money can do in boxing, when it pulled together two fighters in Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn, who were previously fighting two or three weight classes apart. Now, it’s putting a two-time heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist in the ring with a boxing novice.
Paul beat Chavez Jr in his last fight in June (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
From Joshua’s point of view, it gives him a chance to put on the gloves and go through the motions of a big fight after more than a year out of the game. His promoter, Hearn, has made no secret of the fact they are pursuing a fight against Tyson Fury in 2026 but that is not one they want to go straight into without some form of warm-up bout. The fight against Paul is unlikely to test the Brit too much, so it was unsurprising to hear Turki Al-Sheikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority and arguably the most powerful figure in boxing, say during the Eubank Jr versus Benn fight on Saturday that Joshua will be fighting in Saudi in February.
That fight is more likely to come against a more established heavyweight and provide Joshua with the challenge he needs to prepare for a bout against Fury.
For Paul, this fight is his way of answering all the questions and jibes over his boxing CV, which at present features athletes from other sports and retired fighters. Joshua is very much an active heavyweight who, at 36, retains all the power that has helped him knock out 25 of his 32 opponents, including a devastating knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in March 2024.
Is the fight safe?
Analysis by Sarah Shephard
Should this be happening is the question that will be asked ad infinitum over the next four weeks. This is not an exhibition, like Paul’s fight against Tyson but a professional fight over three-minute rounds in 10oz gloves.
Paul weighed in for the Tyson fight — his only fight at heavyweight — at a career-biggest 227.2lb (103kg), while Joshua weighed in for his most recent fight against Dubois at 252.5lb (115kg). And in terms of height, there is around 5 inches between them with Joshua measuring 6ft 6in (198cm) and Paul 6ft 1in (185cm). So the size difference is not all that huge. Certainly not in comparison to the difference in experience, ability and skill.
If Paul was not who he is, there is zero chance he would have the opportunity to take on an elite fighter like Joshua at this stage of his nascent boxing career. And that is for good reason; boxing is dangerous. There are (or should be) measures in place to keep it as safe as possible within that realm of danger.
In this case, it seems that money, fame and star power count for more than any of those measures.