Anthony Joshua is set to return to action on Friday, December 19th against Jake Paul. After a decade of fighting many of the toughest names in heavyweight boxing, he’s going up against what many consider to be a gimme opponent — so much so that the big question coming into their Netflix fight is whether “AJ” will carry Paul and play nice with him in the ring.
In a sane world that would be a pretty offensive question to ask a legitimate former world champion, but in a sane world Joshua wouldn’t even
be fighting Paul. So the British boxer took those questions with a shrug during a pre-fight press conference on Tuesday night.
“That’s the whole point of this fight: it creates conversation,” Joshua said. “Barbershop conversations, taxi conversations, airplane conversations, and that’s what we want. The more people talking about the fight, regardless of what it is that they’re talking about, is a massive bonus.”
“I’m not worried about what people think of the integrity side. I’m more worried about, ‘Are they talking?’ And as long as they are, I think we’re doing a good job.”
Joshua says he agreed to the fight to ‘make some noise’ after a shocking 5th round faceplant knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
“It was just a great opportunity to get back in the ring and get back to big time business,” he said of the Paul fight. “People are talking about this fight and the whole point of boxing is to make big noise, be in big fights, and that’s exactly what this opportunity brings.”
“So it wasn’t so much just for the aspect of ‘Let’s get back, let’s have a bit of fun.’ It was ‘Let’s make some noise, let’s get back at the front of the queue, at the front of the race and show people why we are the leading fighters in the world and with the best promotional team in the world and the best training team in the world.’ So yeah, we’re at the front again, and December 19 we’ll prove why.”
Joshua insisted he would treat Jake Paul no differently than any other opponent he’s faced.
“There’s not even that, ‘Oh, it’s Jake,'” he said of his mindset. “I was actually looking at myself today. I’m a very respectful guy, brought up by a good family. But if I can kill you, I will kill you. That’s just how I am. And this is just the job I do, so let’s go.”
“AJ” certainly didn’t hold back when he fought former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, KOing the Cameroonian brutally back in 2024.
“I’m carrying boxing on my back,” he declared. “I’ve done it with the Ngannou fight, and I’m gonna do it again. I understand the expectation. I don’t carry it because the expectation I have of myself is already enough, but I understand it. I acknowledge it and I respect it. That’s about it as far as outside concerns about this fight.”
Paul vs. Joshua goes down Friday, December 19th from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida and can be watched live on Netflix.
