A former rival of Anthony Joshua has issued Jake Paul with some stern advice ahead of his controversial meeting with ‘AJ’.
Joshua and Paul are set to do battle in an eight round heavyweight clash at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Friday December 19, live and exclusive on Netflix.
‘AJ’ is yet to compete since he suffered the fourth defeat of his career to former IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September 2024.
The 36-year-old from England had been pencilled in to face Cassius Chaney last month but opted to finalise a deal to face YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul instead.
Paul racked up his 12th career victory back in June when he comprehensively outpointed Mexico’s former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Anaheim.
One man that has experience in sharing the ring with Joshua is Sweden’s Otto Wallin, who was stopped in the fifth round of his showdown with the Brit back in December 2023.
In a recent interview with Hajper, Wallin shared his thoughts on the controversial match-up between his former rival and Paul, as he urges the American to not go ahead with the fight.
“Don’t do the fight. I’m so surprised if this fight goes ahead. And I feel like the weight limit is a little bit cringy because it’s a heavyweight fight. But still, Joshua should be way too good, way too strong and fast for Jake Paul and have too much experience. So I’m just so surprised that Jake is taking this fight.
“He goes from Tank Davis to Joshua, which is crazy. I don’t understand why he does it, but maybe he wants the respect saying that he fought Joshua, but it might end his career. Maybe, maybe he’s fed up with boxing. Personally, I think that he’s [Anthony Joshua] just going to try and knock him out.
“My thinking is that Joshua has been knocked out before by Ruiz and Dubois, so I think that he doesn’t want to take any chances and he knows if something happens against Jake Paul, then it’s terrible for him and his career. So I honestly think that he’s just going to go out trying to take him out just like he did Ngannou.
“I think Jake is gonna try to survive. He’s gonna try to survive, but as soon as Joshua corners him and hits him and throws combinations that he can, he’s gonna take him out. Logically, it doesn’t go past the first round.”
Despite his recent inactivity, ‘AJ’ looks to be full of confidence heading into his long-awaited return to the ring, as he vows to ‘break the face’ of Paul when they meet next week.
