Anthony Joshua could be heading from one ‘crossover’ fight right to another – this time vs a kickboxing great.
On Friday night in Miami, Joshua knocked out YouTuber Jake Paul in six rounds after what was a very disappointing spectacle for the sport of boxing.
We got to watch Jake (now 12-2) running for the first four rounds as the crowd inside the Kaseya Center booed loudly. Eventually AJ (now 29-4 with 26 knockouts) caught up with his overmatched opponent, and a thudding right hand closed the show in Round 6.
READ MORE: Jake Paul camp respond to ‘rigged’ conspiracy theories after Joshua KO
Joshua earned north of £50million for what was an incredibly easy night’s work with the bout streaming live globally on Netflix. As we said beforehand, why wouldn’t he take the bout? It presented the biggest financial opportunity with the least risk.
Now it appears Joshua could be back out as early as February 14 to kick off a two-fight deal with Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season in 2026. And his opponent could be former world kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven.
The 36-year-old Dutch superstar Verhoeven has been linked with a Joshua fight for a couple of months now – remember he vacated his GLORY heavyweight title in November to end a 12-year run at the very top. That just added to the ongoing speculation.
Hearn on Joshua next fight
On Friday night in Miami, as the dust settled on Joshua vs Jake, AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn was asked about what comes next and specifically he was asked about all those Verhoeven rumours. He confirmed that there is a February date in place for Joshua’s next fight, but added that no final decision yet has been made about the opponent.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference he said: “We’ve been talking about a possible fight with Turki Alalshikh – a couple of opponents mentioned. The biggest challenge now, as AJ said, it’s eight weeks tonight.
“Very tough camp [for the Jake Paul fight] – eight or nine weeks with a new team who gave him a good working over. We’ll sit down with that team and talk about when he’s ready to return. In an ideal world, that [February 14], that would be the time. But we’re gonna see when he’s ready.”
“Rico – or whoever it is – we haven’t finalised that yet. But the date really is what we’re gonna work on over the next four, five, six days because we’re not gonna rush him back if he’s not quite ready.
“But it won’t be long and the plan is to fight in the Spring and then obviously fight Tyson Fury.”
That Fury fight by the way – so long in the making – looks likely to take place at London’s Wembley Stadium, potentially in August or September 2026.
Why is Joshua ‘crossing over’?
Quite simply, why wouldn’t he? He earned more than £50million for fighting Jake Paul and two fights with Fury would probably add somewhere near another £200million to his career earnings.
Throw in a Verhoeven fight in February and he might end up earning close to £300million in just over a year – now that is what we call a retirement plan.
AJ, smartly, is maximising his earnings as he closes in on the final chapter of a glittering career. He is 36 years old now, and deserves the chance to make his own decisions. At this stage there are no signs that he is about to fumble the bag.
