Is Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul Actually Happening? Latest News

Just when you thought Jake Paul’s boxing career couldn’t get anymore bizarre, he’s now being linked with former two-time champ Anthony Joshua.

The YouTube star, who recently beat a 58-year-old Mike Tyson after dragging the boxing great out of retirement for one final payday, has had his eyes set on Joshua for the past few months.

AJ, who we haven’t seen in the ring for almost a year now following his devastating loss to Daniel Dubois last September, would have laughed at the prospect of this fight during his prime. But with the 35-year-old fast approaching the end of his career, you wouldn’t put it past him and his team to put pen-to-paper, especially considering the amount of money involved.

Love or hate Jake Paul, the Youtuber turned boxer is a money machine when it comes to fight sales and media attention, and it’s no longer possible to turn your nose up at him like it was before. Simply put, Paul is one of the biggest draws in boxing, even though it rubs most fighters the wrong way.

Eddie Hearn: There’s a “50/50” Chance AJ vs Paul Will Happen

Eddie Hearn, AJ’s long-time promoter, recently added fuel to the fire when speaking to the The Ring (4 August) about a potential fight between two of boxing’s biggest names:

“This is very real. I had a good chat for about an hour with Nakisa [Bidarian, Paul’s adviser] on [30 July], and now I believe they want the fight. I really do. Nakisa was very honest, and he’s concerned about the fight, but Jake truly believes he can win the fight or at least be competitive in it.

“And now because of the size of the fight, it leads me to believe there’s a very good chance it could happen. If I had to rate that chance, I would say it’s 50/50. It was a very positive conversation, and we expect that conversation to extend over the coming weeks. If they really want it, it will happen.”

Hearn then spoke to Pro Boxing Fans not long after and speculated that Joshua would likely “render Jake Paul unconscious” and finally force him to “exit the boxing world”.

They were strong words indeed from Hearn, who seems more keen than anyone to make the fight happen. But as we’ve seen all too often with Hearn x AJ, talks of potential big-money fights often end up going nowhere, with the long-anticipated fight between AJ and Tyson Fury being the perfect example. However, the fight with Paul does seem a little more likely to happen, particularly as it’s a low-risk, high-pay fight for Joshua and his team.

Jake Paul Insists He’d BEAT Joshua

As of right now, Anthony Joshua himself hasn’t publicly spoken about a potential fight with Jake Paul, although he has made a few cryptic social media posts about it. Paul, however, won’t stop talking about AJ, recently making his thoughts clear about the situation on the BS w/ Jake Paul podcast:

“I want to fight Anthony Joshua … because I know that I will f***ing beat Anthony Joshua’s ass. He doesn’t have a chin, and he has no skill, and he’s stiff. I love you, Anthony, we’re friends … but I want to fight you.”

As confident as Paul is, though, the truth is that he’d seriously struggle to beat AJ if the fight does actually go ahead. It wouldn’t even be a contest, and the absolute best Paul could hope for is making it through 12 rounds and taking it to a points decision, but even then it wouldn’t be close.

AJ himself might not be the same guy he was when he beat Wladimir Klitschko back in 2017, but he’s far from a spent force. Most boxing fans would agree he’s never quite been the same since that shock 2019 loss to Ruiz Jr, despite having won a handful of fights since then (and up until last year’s devastating loss to Daniel Dubois, it looked as though AJ was potentially heading back to the top). However, Paul wouldn’t pose any type of threat here and it would, quite literally, be easy money for a 35-year-old AJ.

Joshua vs Paul Betting Odds

The fight between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul has yet to be officially confirmed, so no betting odds have been released for it. However, William Hill currently have Joshua as the 4/1 favourite to be next in the ring with Paul, with all signs pointing to the fight happening. And if it does go ahead, Daniel from BettingTools expects the betting odds to overwhelmingly be in AJ’s favour:

“Once the fight between Joshua and Jake Paul is confirmed to go ahead, don’t be shocked to see Joshua given odds shorter than 1/10. Every sportsbooks will have him as the favorite and it’d be a serious shock if he didn’t either knock Paul out or win convincingly on points. Sure, Paul does have that fatal overhand right up his sleeve, but an experienced fighter like AJ would be able to take it if it did end up connecting. Knowing this, you’d be crazy to bet on anything but an AJ win.”

AJ Would Be Jake Paul’s Biggest Challenge Yet

The fascinating thing about Jake Paul is that, of his 13 professional bouts, only 5 of them have come against actual boxers. When you pick those boxers apart, it doesn’t look pretty either. Both Andre August and Ryan Bourland were carefully handpicked to suit Paul’s limits, while Tommy Fury is hardly a “serious” fighter on the circuit (Fury did, however, dominate Paul the entire fight, much to the Youtuber’s embarrassment). There was, of course, Mike Tyson, who was dragged out of a near 20-year retirement for one last payday against a much younger and faster Paul (some call this the worst spectacle even seen in boxing). Then, most recently, Paul fought an over the hill 39-year-old Chavez Jr, who barely threw a punch the whole fight and looked completely lost. Quite simply, Paul has yet to really face a genuine active fighter with credibility in the bank, and even the fights he wins usually come off looking bad. AJ would certainly be a first for him, and it would, of course, provide Paul himself with a chance to silence the critics, as none of his previous wins have done much to silence the constant criticism that he just doesn’t box against serious fighters.

Joshua Fresh Off Successful Elbow Operation, Eyeing Fast Comeback

It was only back in May when two-time world heavyweight champion AJ went under the knife for an elbow operation. The operation itself was a success and AJ commented at the time “As soon as I’m healed I’ll be back. I’ve gotta do my rehab, really.” We know that AJ has since fully healed from that operation and it’s safe to say that, based on current circumstances, there’s no better comeback fight for him than Jake Paul. It’s a big payday with extremely low risk, and it would ultimately allow AJ to tune up in front of a big crowd again before chasing some legacy-defining bouts before he officially hangs up the gloves. For now, at least, we’ll have to wait and see what happens, but this fight has money written all over it.