Anthony Joshua and his promoter have insisted that tonight’s Jake Paul fight will be a quick sidequest before he gets back on the legitimate heavyweight championship path. But that may not actually be the case.
Joshua is widely expected to destroy Paul on Netflix (Fri. Dec. 19, 2025), to the point where many feel anything less than a first round knockout will be considered a poor performance from the former WBA, WBC, IBF, and IBO champion. After that, he’ll fight again in Saudi Arabia on February 14th … and then finally he’ll face Tyson Fury in the superfight everyone has been waiting nearly a decade for.
Why wait? We all know what happens every time the combat sports world tries to get too slick with their setups. Initially it was thought that Joshua still wanted a proper tune up fight before taking on Fury. But now reporter Ariel Helwani is teasing AJ’s next fight could be another sideshow against a very unconventional opponent.
“There’s a fight on the table for AJ to fight on February 14, but he has to get by Jake first,” Helwani said during a live show in Miami. “And it’s a very out of left field fight. I don’t wanna be that guy to do the whole ‘I know something you don’t,’ but I was sworn to secrecy. There’s a left field fight that if AJ wins, I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets on the mic tomorrow night and calls this guy out.”
“Remember this when I ask him, if he wins, who’s next,” Helwani added. “And he’ll be like, ah! Any guesses, by the way? You’re saying [Oleksandr] Usyk or Tyson [Fury]. You’re not in the right [area], I’m talking [left field]. Jon Jones is a good one, but no.”
While nothing is confirmed, we have been hearing reports for the past month that former Glory Kickboxing heavyweight champion Rico Verhoeven is in consideration for Anthony Joshua’s February fight, and that match-up was suggested to Saudi power broker Turki Alalshikh by movie star and longtime combat sports fanatic Jason Statham.
That would definitely be a left field fight, and one that no one asked for. But the Saudis are used to getting what they want, and Anthony Joshua is clearly happy fighting whoever so long as the check is big enough. We’d rather he get a proper tune up against a top heavyweight after his collapse in the Daniel Dubois fight, but boxing is beholden to strange forces these days.
On that note, enjoy Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua tonight!
