Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul is almost upon us after the official weigh-in took place in Miami on Thursday.
The two men got onto the scales at the Fontainebleau Hotel just over 24 hours ahead of their eagerly-awaited heavyweight showdown on Friday night (live on Netflix).
While this was always going to emphasise the huge difference in physical size between the two men, it was a huge deal for Joshua for another reason. The weight clause in his massive contract (he will earn north of £50million on Friday).
READ MORE: Joshua vs Jake Paul – all of the big questions, answered
That clause stipulated that AJ must weigh in at 111kg or less (245lbs or 17st 7lbs) or face a massive financial penalty (promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed this, without divulging the exact account.
Official weights for Joshua and Jake
That 245 number is the lowest AJ has weighed since his rematch loss to Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia in August 2022, and he duly managed to hit it. Joshua scaled 17st 5lbs (243lbs) to come in some two pounds under that stipulated limit.
There were of course no weight clauses for Jake, who has spent most of his career fighting at cruiserweight (limit 200lbs or 14st 4lbs). For him, it was a case of beefing up rather than trimming down.
‘The Problem Child’ tipped the scales at 217lbs (15st 7lbs) – just under two stones lighter than Joshua. As well as the massive height and reach difference between the two men.
While there was a ceremonial rerun of the weigh-in planned for Miami later on Thursday, all the official boxes are ticked ahead of Friday night. It is official, we have ourselves a fight.
A mismatch of epic proportions
Joshua, a two-time world heavyweight champion with a 28-4 record (25 knockouts) is unsurprisingly a heavy favourite at 1/11, but not heavy enough in our estimation.
Jake, whose 12-1 resume features washed-up fighters and celebrities for the most part (he lost to ‘Love Island’ star Tommy Fury), is a 6/1 underdog but you can add a zero to that number as far as we are concerned.
Despite all the criticism of this one taking place, there is zero doubt that many many people will tune in for the stream on Netflix – remember that 108million did just that when Paul outpointed a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in late 2024.
Ring walks for the big fight are expected to take place at around 10.30pm Eastern Time on Friday night, which is around 3.30am Saturday in the UK. Set the alarm clocks fight fans, here we go…
