Jake Paul is in over his head against Anthony Joshua

Anthony Joshua looked way past his prime when Daniel Dubois pitilessly beat him down in September 2024 when challenging for the IBF heavyweight belt. Now he is less than a week away from facing off against what he hopes is a stepping stone to another nice run at glory before it’s over. 

It’s an eight-round fight in Miami’s Kaseya Center on Dec. 19 with Jake Paul, who has never seen anything close to this level of competition. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, who is also the chairman of Matchroom Sport, rated Paul as a top-60 cruiserweight in interviews ahead of what many anticipate will be an execution.

Props to Paul. He pivoted from the canceled Gervonta Davis exhibition fight to one of the toughest opponents he could see. He’s already taken one loss to Tommy Fury, but Joshua is in another stratosphere of athleticism and size.

Yet what if this goes badly for AJ like the Tyson Fury v. Francis Ngannou fight that went to a 10-round split decision win for the Englishman? At least in Tyson Fury’s case, he was undefeated at the time. If Joshua doesn’t impress or worse, loses in the biggest upset since Buster Douglas KOed Mike Tyson, then he’ll never sniff the top again and should retire.

But don’t get your hopes up for a fairytale ending of AJ losing. Paul is at a six-inch reach disadvantage and he is (listed) six inches shorter than Joshua. Even with Joshua not what he once was, this feels as one-sided as the giant wave against the fishing boat in the film, The Perfect Storm. It’s possible this could go like the Tyson v. Peter McNeely fight. That was Iron Mike’s first time back in action since serving prison time for a rape conviction, and he hurt McNeely so badly that the latter’s manager stepped into the ring 91 seconds in, and that was it.

Unless Paul suffers life-changing damage, the outcome is a win regardless of what happens after round two. He could get cruelly knocked out and history will remember him for his bollocks. His legacy will get a massive boost, too,  for the step up in competition from washed MMA fighters and boxers plus low-level opponents to a former Olympic gold medalist and heavyweight champion.