Jake Paul already has an opponent in mind for his next fight after cruising to a call win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Continuing to aim high, Paul now claims he wants a matchup with former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
Paul, 28, improved to 12-1 as an expert boxer with the dominant, but listless, victory over Chavez. Following Paul’s win over Chavez, a former three-division world champion, his manager, Nakisa Bidarian, said he wants one other former champion on his resume.
“I feel that is the foremost one we have talked lots about,” Bidarian said. “If it is not for the title, it’s Tommy [Fury] if he’s reasonable, after which Anthony Joshua. [Jake Paul] is adamant that he desires to make that fight occur at the tip of 2026.”
Paul doubled down on the claim and backed up his manager’s statement. While acknowledging the numerous step-up in competition, Paul believes a matchup with Joshua would silence the foremost criticism of his profession. Many refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of Paul’s profession resulting from his tendency to face older fighters against whom he significantly out-weighs.
Paul added that he has been communicating with Joshua, who also wants the matchup. Bidarian and Paul each appear to imagine the fight can occur in late 2026.
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“Anthony is feasible,” Paul said. “I just like the challenge. That is the criticism — ‘Fight someone of their prime who’s a beast.’ I feel people just wish to see me lose; that is really what the message is behind all of it. Anthony Joshua is an insane fight, but I would like that challenge. We have been DM’ing backwards and forwards; he desires to make it occur. He called me up, and it’s looking very likely for next yr.”
Jake Paul’s history with Anthony Joshua
Paul has called out Joshua before, particularly after the 35-year-old’s recent loss to Daniel Dubois. ‘El Gallo’ claimed that, while he’s friendly with Joshua, he believes he’s technically superior to the previous WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO heavyweight titleholder.
While the 2 haven’t any direct connection to one another, they’ve been supportive of one another’s careers. As a former champion, Joshua has tended to maintain himself separated from the influencer boxing world, but is only one yr faraway from a blockbuster crossover fight with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Fans often criticize Paul, a natural cruiserweight, for fighting opponents much smaller than him. Nevertheless, he is 2 fights faraway from a win over Mike Tyson in Netflix’s inaugural live sports stream. The win undeniably comes with the caveat of the 58-year-0ld Tyson entering the fight nearly 20 years after retiring from skilled boxing.