Anthony Joshua promises to break Jake Paul's face, 'stomp all over him' in ominous kickoff presser

It didn’t take long for Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua to establish the stakes for their heavyweight fight.

Paul, an American internet sensation, meets Joshua, Britain’s two-time heavyweight champion, on Dec. 19 atop a Most Valuable Promotions card inside the Kaseya Center, Miami. At the kickoff press conference hosted from that venue on Friday, Joshua made it clear he’s ignoring all the noise — like rival Tyson Fury picking Paul to finish him — to focus only on beating the self-proclaimed disruptor in style.

The hulking athlete is a considerable betting favorite among the bookmakers for good reason. Though he’s been out of the ring for 15 months, and looking to rebound from a brutal knockout loss to Daniel Dubois, the 36-year-old Joshua remains one of the most significant heavyweights in the post-Wladimir Klitschko era.

He’s beaten Klitschko, Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin — the kinds of opponents noticeably absent from Paul’s résumé.

Until now.

Paul has risen from a novelty to an ever-present in combat sports and, following the cancelation of the Gervonta Davis exhibition, he needed a big-name to replace “Tank” to satisfy Netflix’s desire to only broadcast tentpole events to its global audience. Names rarely come bigger than Joshua.

And even though Friday’s faceoff between them exposed an absurd size difference between the 6-foot-1 and 215-pound Paul from Joshua, who stands at 6-foot-6 and typically weighs around the 250-plus mark, the 28-year-old appeared unfazed.

For Paul, it’s a matter of making history as the man to write perhaps the biggest upset the sport has ever seen.

“Look at the last time they came to America,” said Paul, referencing the lone time Joshua has ever fought in the United States.

In 2019, a victory over Andy Ruiz Jr. could have catapulted Joshua into the American consciousness and to help maximize mainstream attention for a transatlantic showdown with Deontay Wilder.

“Andy Ruiz stopped that,” Paul said, calling back to the night the Mexican-American underdog clattered Joshua to the canvas four times and sent Joshua back to Britain humiliated. “This is Andy Ruiz 2.0,” Paul said, claiming he’s the man to repeat the most shocking night of Joshua’s career.

The fact Joshua has changed his camp to learn from Oleksandr Usyk’s team in Spain, after dropping back-to-back defeats to Uncrowned’s pound-for-pound No.2-ranked fighter, only strengthens Joshua’s case that he refuses to overlook Paul and risk being regarded as a meme should Dec. 19 become a surprisingly competitive bout — or even worse, if he loses.

“He’s training with the best in the world,” Paul said. “He’s one of the best, we’d expect nothing else. This is the best version of Jake Paul, so we’ll see who’s better.”

Paul admitted his bravado might look like “delusional optimism,” but said it’s the foundation of everything he does, before predicting a “fourth- or fifth-round knockout.”

Joshua, meanwhile, has fought in a crossover bout before — he flattened former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in two rounds in 2024 to pick up one of the easiest victories of his 32-fight career. Now, he intends on doing something similar to Paul.

“I’m going to break his face, break his body up, and stomp all over him,” Joshua said. “That’s a fighter’s mentality. I know what’s in my heart. I’m here to prove I’m the better fighter.”

Joshua’s career-long promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, has laid out a three-fight plan for “AJ” that includes a tune-up fight against Paul and a February showdown possibly in Saudi Arabia, all leading into a long-awaited Battle of Britain against former heavyweight champion Fury.

Joshua said that’s what a promoter should be doing, and insisted the future plans are not a distraction for him. “My focus is on Jake Paul,” he vowed.

Joshua said those other fights “are not signed” and are “just opportunities.”

He added: “Jake is a completely different fighter to Ngannou. I can’t compare [them]. Ngannou never boxed before. Jake has. Ngannou is a lot slower, bigger and more powerful. [But] Jake is quicker and boxes with a completely different style.”

Rather than focus on righting a wrong — Joshua’s loss to Ruiz — the former champ simply wants “to really hurt [Paul] in the ring,” he said.

Joshua finished by saying he’s just “here to do a job” — which is to fight Jake Paul — while Paul escalated the stakes even further: “I want him to break my face. He’s going to have to kill me to stop me. I’m ready to die in the ring to win this fight.”

On Dec. 19, only one of them will be proven right.

Anthony Joshua promises to break Jake Paul’s face, ‘stomp all over him’ in ominous kickoff presser

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