There is only one fight people are talking about this – Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul – and it appears like it WILL actually be a real fight.
The boxing world went into full nuclear meltdown on Wednesday when The Ring insider Mike Coppinger revealed that the two men are in talks for a December heavyweight blockbuster in Miami. To be streamed live by Netflix.
One of the biggest questions as the debate raged about whether the fight should happen at all, concerned what the rules should be. Remember that Paul’s showdown with Mike Tyson last year (watched by 108m viewers on Netflix) was sanctioned as a bona fide heavyweight fight. But his now cancelled showdown with Gervonta Davis this weekend was an exhibition.
READ MORE: Jake Paul fight is a golden pension plan for Joshua, why wouldn’t he?
There’s a big difference between the two – for one we have actual punches with bad intentions being thrown and the whole thing counting towards official pro records. Which of course is hugely important for both men.
The gulf in class and experience between the two is enormous – Joshua (28-4) is a two-time world heavyweight champion while Youtuber Jake has just 13 fights on his resume, including a defeat by Fury (Tommy Fury, that is).
Joshua vs Paul ‘not an exhibition’
And on Friday we got apparent confirmation from Coppinger that the bout is planned as a real fight, not an exhibition. He also threw in the planned date for free.
“The heavyweight fight – not exhibition – is slated to take place Friday, Dec. 19, per sources.”
Will the fight actually happen?
Now of course we wait to see if the fight actually gets signed – time is very short to get a promotion of this size over the line for a December 19 working date.
Friday morning brought some potentially bad news, with Jake revealing in a social media post that there are clearly blockers.
He said: “Not holding my breath for 2025. Too many yes men.”
One of those potential blockers could be the TV details. Joshua remember is exclusively signed to DAZN and all his fights appear on that platform. So in theory he’d need DAZN blessing, or some form of compromise, to fight on Netflix.
