I was very surprised to hear the news that professional boxing savant Jake Paul will be squaring off against former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua next month. It will be Paul’s biggest test in the ring to date, both literally and figuratively. The match is set to take place Dec. 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. The bout will be broadcasted live on Netflix. It is scheduled for eight, three-minute rounds, and both fighters will be wearing 10-ounce boxing gloves. Joshua, 36, is a muscled up six-foot-six, 250-pound British boxing phenom with a highly decorated resume. As an amateur fighter, Joshua won Olympic gold back in 2012 in the super heavyweight division. As a professional, Joshua won his first heavyweight championship after only his 16th pro fight in 2016. Joshua would go on simultaneously hold four unified heavyweight championship belts before suffering his first professional loss in 2019. With a professional record of 28-4 that includes 25 knockouts, Joshua has appeared in a total of 13 championship bouts during his exceptional career. That said, why on Earth does Joshua want to compete against a guy like Paul, an opponent who most people believe is unworthy and not even a real boxer. After all, Paul has no amateur experience, carries a pro record of only 12 wins in 13 fights, and recently competed against a 39-year-old Julio César Chávez Jr. and a 58-year-old Mike Tyson. Besides a huge gap in experience level, Paul is six-foot-one, weighs roughly 200 pounds, and fights in the cruiserweight division, one weight class lower than heavyweight. Joshua towered over Paul at a Friday press conference in Miami. The only physical advantage that Paul has in the match is his age. He is 28 years old, eight years younger than Joshua. Joshua is reportedly going to earn an estimated $92 million for the match with Paul. Joshua reportedly earned in the neighborhood of $7-33 million in his previous bout that resulted in a fifth-round knockout loss in 2024. In the fight business, money has a way of many very peculiar business partners. Aside from the money, perhaps Paul believes that he is catching Joshua at the perfect time. The enormous British heavyweight is coming off a knockout defeat, and he has not been active in over a year. Three of the five main boxing ranking systems, Ring Magazine, World Boxing Association, and International Boxing Federation, do not have Joshua ranked in the top 10 anymore due to inactivity after his most recent disappointing performance. From Joshua’s perspective, perhaps he actually needs a tune up fight against an easy opponent to regain some confidence before he goes onto more stiff competition. Or could it be that Joshua knows he cannot win against real heavyweight contenders anymore, and simply wants to get paid the most amount of money in exchange for the least amount of work? While many boxing observers scoff at Paul, I choose to congratulate what he has accomplished in the sport. Most fighters compete in obscurity as amateurs for many years before ever turning pro. Even as professionals, many fighters never become household names. Paul has found a way to bypass the traditional route and parlayed his social media brand into notoriety within the sport of boxing. I also think he is pretty good and could probably beat most journeymen fighters his own size. That said, this is quite a difference in the level of competition Paul is used to seeing. Though diminished, Joshua does not need to be at his best to be the heavy favorite in this tussle. I expect to see Paul running for his life most of the match. Joshua will undoubtedly try to end the fight early with his extraordinary punching power and I believe he will succeed. I don’t see this match lasting beyond the first round. I just hope Jake can wake up from the coma Joshua is about to put him in.
https://victoriaadvocate.com/2025/11/24/robs-brew-haha-paul-levels-up-in-bout-with-ex-champ-joshua/
