Anthony Joshua is entering the twilight of his glittering career, and every fight he takes on provides increased risk.
AJ will turn 36 years of age in October, and is set to return soon after more than a year out of action since that devastating Wembley loss to Daniel Dubois last September.
The two-time world heavyweight champion has also had to recover from elbow surgery earlier this year, and now we wait to see who his opponent will be.
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Several names have been mentioned – from that long-awaited showdown with big British rival Tyson Fury to former Olympic champion Tony Yoka (newly signed to Frank Warren’s Queensberry stable).
Joshua vs Jake Paul
But there is one name above all who might generate the biggest amount of cash for Joshua, with the least potential level of danger. That would be Youtuber turned boxer Jake Paul.
Paul has generated ridiculous PPV numbers since ‘becoming a pro boxer’, notably when he faced former heavyweight king Mike Tyson in Arlington, Texas last November. Their 8-round bout aired on Netflix and smashed all viewing records with more than 108million fans worldwide tuning in live. This despite that fact it was a relative novice boxer fighting a 58-year-old former star more than 30 years his senior.
Well Paul is now being linked strongly with fights against more ‘current’ talent, notably Joshua. He also faced off with Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley recently amid talk of a crossover MMA encounter.
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A Joshua vs Jake Paul fight would generate a fortune at the box office, with the curiosity factor off the scale to see if ‘The Problem Child’ could pose any problems for Joshua.
One man who believes the bout would be an open goal for AJ is former world super-middleweight champion George Groves.
He told talkSPORT: “That’s it, that’s a gift, isn’t it. That’s a gift that keeps giving for Anthony Joshua, wow. It’ll be a huge fight, a lotta, lotta money at stake, and zero risk.
“As a fighter, you know, at some point, and definitely at Joshua’s point of his career, you weigh up your risk-reward, and there’s zero risk fighting Jake Paul apart from embarrassment if something bizarre happens, with a lot of rewards. So if he gets that fight, he’s gonna be buzzing.”
While Joshua vs Paul would be a massive money spinner, with little apparent risk, it’s not the fight Groves wants to see Joshua choose. He admitted: “I’d like to see him retire or fight [Tyson] Fury.”
Fury and Joshua of course have been close to meeting on several occasions in the past, but on every occasion something has stopped the all-British megafight happening.
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