Jake Paul heard all the criticisms about his resume and choice of opposition so he answered that by booking a showdown against former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua with the fight now set for Dec. 19 in Miami.
Originally scheduled to face Gervonta “Tank” Davis in a matchup where Paul towered over a much smaller opponent, he went in the exact opposite direction with Joshua. At his best, Joshua was ranked as one of the top heavyweights in the sport with numerous high profile wins on his resume
including a vicious knockout over former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
“They said fight a real boxer,” Paul said on his YouTube channel. “They said fight someone your size. They said fight a world champion. We looked at a long list of supposed fighters for me to fight.
“You guys wanted me to go bigger. How about twice as big? Literally, he’s twice as big as Gervonta [Davis].”
Paul isn’t discounting the danger involved with fighting somebody like Joshua, who is by far his stiffest test to date after filling out the vast majority of his win column with UFC veterans and journeymen boxers.
Now he’ll take on a legit heavyweight with devastating one-punch knockout power.
“Two-time heavyweight champion of the world. An Olympic gold medalist,” Paul said about Joshua. “While he was winning Olympic gold, I was filming Vines in high school. A.J. is a knockout artist with fights that have literally ended in seconds. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little scared.
“And yes, little Josh is signed to my enemy, Eddie Hearn. I know Eddie and all of you naysayers are saying that I wouldn’t take this fight. Talk is cheap my friends but guess what? You’re not alone. My friends and family couldn’t even believe I was taking this fight.”
The fight between Paul and Joshua came together on short notice after the planned matchup against Davis was scrapped after he got hit with a lawsuit from a former girlfriend accusing him of disturbing domestic violence allegations.
Paul and his team ultimately decided to punt the fight with Davis and look for a new opponent instead.
“Here’s the truth, he had a past of many arrests and accusations but everyone has a past,” Paul said about Davis. “We accepted that. But when you bring the past into the present with domestic violence, you are out, period.
“The reality is Gervonta fumbled the biggest bag of his career and ruined a relationship with the biggest streaming platform in the world.”
While he seems to be taking his upcoming fight seriously knowing the potential disaster that could be awaiting him, Paul promises he’s going to shock the world.
“Make no mistake, this is the biggest fight of my career,” Paul said. “I’m walking into the lion’s den. I’m doing something that no one else has ever done before. I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock out, defeat and embarrass Anthony Joshua Friday, Dec. 19, live on Netflix.”
