Jake Paul has at least one heavyweight legend backing him in a potential fight against Anthony Joshua.
Former champion Tyson Fury, who has been teasing a possible comeback from retirement, believes that the former YouTuber turned boxer has a great chance to beat Joshua if they actually fight. Not only is Fury picking Paul to win but he believes it would be an emphatic finish.
“I think Jake Paul knocks him out,” Fury told Ring Magazine when asked about Paul vs. Joshua. “I just think Jake Paul would
knock A.J. out … I think Jake Paul’s on the rise. I like his new heavyweight look. A bit chubby, a bit bulky, getting there. And he just did a great job over the aging [Julio Cesar] Chavez Jr. He was a middleweight but still.
“I like how Jake Paul calls out the full spectrum from featherweight to heavyweight. Who’d he call out Tank [Davis] and Joshua. That’s just crazy. I see Richter scale callouts.”
Of course, Fury may not be the most unbiased source when it comes to offering predictions on the fight considering he’s been linked to a potential fight against Joshua for several years yet the British heavyweights have never actually met in the ring.
There have always been obstacles in the way — most recently Fury losing back-to-back fights to reigning heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk before announcing his retirement and Joshua suffering a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois.
That said, Fury hasn’t completely ruled out a comeback, although he admits he’s weighing his long term health against possibly fighting again.
“At the end of the day, it’s good for the fans to give them what they want but is it really worth my health?” Fury said. “I go to these events and I see a lot of these old time champions and some of them get lost in the bathroom. I don’t want to be like that.”
Fury didn’t completely shut down a potential return to the ring but instead just said “keep watching” and we’d all “find out soon” if he’s going to fight again.
As for Paul, he remains confident that he can book the fight against Joshua in the near future with hopes that a win there could then lead to his own showdown against Usyk.
“This is where it’s going to happen,” Paul told DAZN about fighting Joshua in Wembley Stadium. “We’re going to do the unthinkable and create one of the biggest fights in the history of boxing. That’s what this is all about.
“It’s going to happen. Fasten your seatbelts or whatever and when I knock him out, I go down in the history books forever.”
He definitely appreciates Fury backing him in the fight against Joshua where he would undoubtedly be a heavy underdog.
“He’s backing me [against Joshua],” Paul told Talk Sport when asked about Fury’s prediction. “He’s a smart lad.”
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