Anthony Joshua will soon step into the ring for his hugely unlikely bout with YouTuber turned novice professional boxer Jake Paul.
Few could have seen this fight coming earlier in the year. Many were hoping that, after taking time to recover from his bad knockout loss during an IBF world title fight with Daniel Dubois in September 2024, AJ would look to finally lock in a fight with Tyson Fury, who is himself coming off a loss to Oleksandr Usyk back in January 2025,
Instead, Fury has remained retired, and Joshua is seen by many to instead be taking an easy payday by taking on Paul. The American is a much smaller, much less experienced fighter who has never shared the ring with anyone with the skills and boxing smarts of Joshua.
Paul has mostly only fought as high as cruiserweight, though he did take on Mike Tyson in November 2024, albeit with the former heavyweight ruler almost 60 years of age at the time.
In conversation with Pro Boxing Fans after seeing Joshua train recently, heavyweight Adam Kownacki sided with the Brit when giving his prediction.
“I think Joshua should win by knockout, you know. He looks really good in training. But good luck to Jake Paul, you know, taking the chance. It’s crazy, it’s going to be a really tough fight for him but we’ll see you know, one shot could change everything.”
Very few people are predicting a win for Paul, though many respected his courage in taking what is plainly such a dangerous contest, with fans hoping that a Joshua win leads to a fight with Fury in 2026.
