A Hall of Fame great has spoken out ahead of the controversial match-up between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul.
Two-time unified heavyweight champion ‘AJ’ is set to face Paul over eight rounds on Friday December 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, the latest high-profile boxing event to be shown exclusively on Netflix.
Joshua is yet to fight since he was beaten for the fourth time in his professional career by former IBF world heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September of 2024.
As for ‘The Problem Child’, the 28-year-old from Arizona earned himself his first official world ranking on June 28 when he defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr via unanimous decision at the conclusion of their cruiserweight bout in Anaheim.
The upcoming clash has garnered plenty of opinions from the boxing world, and now a Hall of Fame inductee has made a shock claim regarding the fight.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel, two-weight world champion Tim Bradley revealed that he believes the controversial meeting between Joshua and Paul is a ’50/50′ fight, as he admits it is a ‘dangerous’ bout for both men.
“Look, ain’t no foregone conclusion that ‘AJ’ going to pull this s**t off man. Ain’t no foregone conclusion. I’m letting everybody know right now. Listen to me man, ‘AJ’ has been mentally not there.
“‘AJ’ still, Olympic Gold Medalist, has fought better opposition, has been long reigning, one of the guys that has been at the top of the sport for a very long time. Yeah, now on the downside, however, this is a dangerous fight for both of these guys man. This is a 50/50 fight in my eyes.”
It has been confirmed by Most Valuable Promotions CEO Nakisa Bidarian that Joshua vs. Paul would be a sanctioned professional contest rather than an exhibition bout, with both fighters set to wear 10oz gloves on fight night.
