Okay, we might want to tap the brakes ever so slightly on all the Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul talk.
On Wednesday the boxing world went into meltdown (to be fair, an almost daily occurrence) when Mike Coppinger of Ring magazine revealed the big ‘news’. The two-time world heavyweight champion and the Youtuber turned boxer are in talks for a December blockbuster on Netflix in Miami.
While we believe AJ would be literally nuts to turn down this opportunity – it’s the easiest fight out there for the biggest possible payday – we also do not like the fight itself. Paul has had 13 pro fights, lost to a Fury (Tommy not Tyson) and was hardly impressive in outpointing a 58-year-old Mike Tyson. It has the potential to be a mismatch of worrying proportions.
Within hours of that Coppinger update we had fresh news though – and it sounds like there is still work to do to get this fight over the line. Right from the horse’s mouth – aka Joshua’s long-time promoter Eddie Hearn.
Eddie Hearn update – report is ‘premature’
Per Hearn – via Ariel Helwani – the fight is not signed, and it is not close to being signed as yet.
Helwani said: “In the midst of all this, I reached out to Eddie Hearn We have spoken but nothing close and I doubt he [Jake Paul] would be so crazy.
“I think asked him ‘would you say this report is premature?’ and he said ‘absolutely’.”
Is DAZN a Netflix blocker?
Even if Joshua and Paul agree to the fight, there is one potential major blocker and that is the TV/streaming element. An age-old issue in making the biggest fights.
Coppinger’s report said talks are for the bout to air on Netflix, no surprise there – Jake pulled in 108m viewers for his decision win over Tyson on that platform late in 2024. But Joshua meanwhile is signed exclusively to DAZN, as are Hearn and Matchroom.
So you’d have to imagine AJ will need the blessing of DAZN to fight ‘off platform’ at all, and especially for a fight of this magnitude. Maybe there is a deal which sees both parties benefit, we should find out soon enough.
What about the rules?
So this is the other big thing when it comes to Jake Paul fights – the rules. Is this an actual sanctioned, ‘proper’ fight? Or is it an exhibition. There is a HUGE difference.
In our opinion the only reason most of those 108m tuned in to see what Tyson had left at 58 years old was to see if he could still unload those trademark bombs. Somehow it was sanctioned in the state of Texas.
There is an enormous gulf in class between AJ and Jake, to the extent many think it is dangerous for ‘The Problem Child’.
Respected boxing exec Lou DIBella summed up the feelings of a ton of experts as he described it as ‘an unsafe abomination’.
DiBella wrote: “No. Tyson vs. Paul was a curiosity. AJ vs. Paul is a mockery of #boxing and an unsafe abomination. Shouldn’t be allowed as a real contest by ANYONE. And I can’t believe that people wanna give “big props” to someone making tens of millions destroying the concept of a legit fight.”
How good is Anthony Joshua now?
We believe Joshua is on the downside of a career which likely takes him into the Pro Boxing Hall of Fame one day soon. He clearly has only a few fights left (he’s a smart guy).
The latest WBC rankings (see below) have Joshua at #3 – remember Oleksandr Usyk, who defeated AJ twice – holds all of the world titles right now as the undisputed champion.
We’d put him significantly lower than that – for example we would absolutely favour the stunning young phenom Moses Itauma were the two ever to meet inside a ring.
The WBC heavyweight rankings in November 2025 look like this:
| Rank | Boxer |
| C | Oleksandr Usyk |
| IC | Agit Kabayel |
| 1 | Lawrence Okolie |
| 2 | Daniel Dubois |
| 3 | Anthony Joshua |
| 4 | Moses Itauma |
| 5 | Filip Hrgovic |
| 6 | Efe Ajagba |
| 7 | Martin Bakole |
| 8 | Frank Sanchez |
| 9 | Zhilei Zhang |
| 10 | Bakhodir Jalolov |
| 11 | Richard Torrez Jr |
| 12 | Guido Vianello |
| 13 | Deontay Wilder |
| 14 | Dereck Chisora |
| 15 | Jared Anderson |
