It’s been nearly one year since Anthony Joshua last competed.
The former world heavyweight champion had been expected to take on Tyson Fury at some stage in 2025, but after Fury’s shock retirement in January, it meant that ‘AJ’ has been searching for a different opponent.
Fury revealed earlier this month that he was set to return the sport, sparking hope that a clash against Joshua may happen after all, but he wants a trilogy with Oleksandr Usyk so instead ‘AJ’ has found himself linked to a clash against YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
Joshua and Paul have both spoken about the shock match-up for the last few weeks, after the pair initially went back and forth on social media.
‘The Problem Child’ was last in action in June when he defeated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr by unanimous decision, while ‘AJ’ hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
Many fans felt that any possible fight between Paul and Joshua was a longshot, but Paul’s manager Nakisa Bidarian revealed to Sky Sports that talks are indeed underway with Matchroom about staging the clash.
“I think the fight can absolutely happen. Two of Joshua’s losses were against Usyk and Usyk weighed around 220lbs for those fights. Jake is not Usyk, a lot more experience needed to get to that level, but Jake walks around between 208-210lbs, and he fought Mike Tyson at 228lbs, so I think size wise we can get comfortable with it.
“I think experience wise Jake is learning very fast and growing, and Joshua is a little long in the tooth, so it could be an very interesting match-up and we’re activitely discussing it with Matchroom.”
Bidarian then revealed the date for when it could take place, and that staging it at Wembley Stadium could be a possibility.
“I think we’re looking at it happening in Q1 of 2026. That’s the current discussion. I think it’s public that AJ was taking some time away, he had a little surgery, once he’s ready, and once Jake is ready, we’re going to squarely focus on that.
“Ultimately it’s not a fight that I want Jake to do, it’s a fight that Jake wants to do. That’s a discussion we’ve had at length and he feels very confident about where he is in his career and his chances of upsetting Anthony Joshua.
“We’re looking at multiple options. Wembley is definitely a possibility. Jake has said he’d like to do it there. He likes the idea of going in and hearing 90,000 people booing him. He feeds off that. We’re looking at the US, Saudi Arabia is also an option, the Middle East is an option as a whole, but we want to do it in the most impactful way possible.”
Rightly or wrongly, the fight would be a huge spectacle in boxing, and time will tell whether it does indeed happen.
