Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul | NETFLIX - December 19, 2025

[gregregegg]

Jake Paul - 216.6lbs
Anthony Joshua - 243.4lbs

At least a bit interesting. Paul was training to be 195 for tank (meaning 210 with a water cut probably) so it makes sense he isn’t big. 230lb was to slow, but I feel 223 would be ideal.

I don’t see 10 lbs affecting his punch resistance in a meaningfull way. It might keep him fast enough to avoid 1 or 2 befor he gets flatlined…

[SportsRatings]

It’s a genuine heavyweight fight though.

In the shit show side Yh. But Paul’s been boxing for 5+ years now.

He has training camps, he trains. He knows how to box. He’s not got the best basic fundamentals of a boxer but he can throw a punch.

US scene has always been about making the most money. I mean can we really complain about this?

It’s on Netflix.

For many many people, they won’t have to pay a penny.

He also gets a lot of respect from other fighters.
How come actual boxers give him respect, but random keyboard warriors who have never put on gloves sh!t on him and say he’s not a real boxer?

Someone like Nico Ali Walsh got a lot of positive feedback, even though Jake Paul is the better fighter (with fewer fights), and it’s not even close.

Because Jake Paul is an annoying chode and a disrespectful twit. He takes nothing seriously so people think he's making a joke out of boxing.

He does take boxing seriously though, and he is a good boxer. He obviously trains hard with great trainers, and he looks like a boxer in the ring, not an asshat who is trying to mock the sport.

But his fights are ridiculous spectacle matchups for the most part. He's not taking the path of a serious boxer in terms of his career. He would not have gotten a fight with AJ if he were. And that's why he's not considered a "real" boxer by boxing fans.

[Sweet Dick Willie]

Nico Ali Walsh is that bad huh? Shame

[goose 5]

I'm not excited by this bout at all but I intend to watch it nevertheless. Joshua on points cause Paul will run and try to last, not win.

[Sendo Takeshi]

Because Jake Paul is an annoying chode and a disrespectful twit. He takes nothing seriously so people think he's making a joke out of boxing.

He does take boxing seriously though, and he is a good boxer. He obviously trains hard with great trainers, and he looks like a boxer in the ring, not an asshat who is trying to mock the sport.

But his fights are ridiculous spectacle matchups for the most part. He's not taking the path of a serious boxer in terms of his career. He would not have gotten a fight with AJ if he were. And that's why he's not considered a "real" boxer by boxing fans.

I agree that he would’ve never gotten AJ fight without his name and platform, but who in their right mind would turn down opportunities like that?

Rolly Romero is also limited as a boxer and still made more money and got more opportunities than 99% of fighters. Nobody says he isn’t a boxer because of that. So dismissing Jake as “not a real boxer” just because of that doesn’t make much sense.

Crawford and Mayweather were fighting random journeymen when they had a similar number of fights as Jake Paul. The difference is that Jake is doing this with no amateur career, which people conveniently ignore.

To be fair, I don’t care about Jake Paul outside of boxing. I only care about the sport. Inside the ring, he clearly takes it seriously. He trains hard, works with legit trainers, and he looks like a boxer, not someone mocking the sport. That's good enough for me.

Nico Ali Walsh is that bad huh? Shame

He is very limited, even compared to Jake Paul.

His athleticism is limited, his fundamentals are very basic, he looked stiff, slow, and uncomfortable once he faced mild resistance and to me it just looks like Jake Paul takes boxing way more serious than Nico Walsh ever did.

Jake Paul looks like has more discipline and the ego to keep pushing himself, even though he is rich as fck.
If I was as rich, I'd play with my b@lls all day long.

[joshj909]

Because Jake Paul is an annoying chode and a disrespectful twit. He takes nothing seriously so people think he's making a joke out of boxing.

He does take boxing seriously though, and he is a good boxer. He obviously trains hard with great trainers, and he looks like a boxer in the ring, not an asshat who is trying to mock the sport.

But his fights are ridiculous spectacle matchups for the most part. He's not taking the path of a serious boxer in terms of his career. He would not have gotten a fight with AJ if he were. And that's why he's not considered a "real" boxer by boxing fans.

Rolly Romero is also limited as a boxer and still made more money and got more opportunities than 99% of fighters. Nobody says he isn’t a boxer because of that. So dismissing Jake as “not a real boxer” just because of that doesn’t make much sense.

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

[Sendo Takeshi]

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

You’re missing the point of the comparison.

I’m not saying Jake Paul and Rolly Romero are the same level of boxer. I’m saying opportunities, titles, and money are not proof of legitimacy or quality.

Rolly being a two/three-time champ sounds impressive until you look closer:

Vacant belts, a very questionable stoppage against Grandpa Barroso, a win over Ryan Garcia who looked awful and is of PEDs.
Outside of that, his resume is thin and he’s been badly exposed by elite fighters.

Rolly is extremely limited technically and still got massive opportunities because he’s marketable. That’s boxing. Jake Paul benefits from the exact same thing.

Saying Jake “treats the sport like a joke” doesn’t hold up. He trains seriously, works with legit coaches and fighters, fights under real rules, accepts losses, and actually looks like a boxer in the ring. You can hate the matchmaking without pretending he’s not a boxer at all.

Also like I said, early-career Mayweather and Crawford were fighting journeymen at a similar number of fights, with long amateur backgrounds. Jake is doing this with zero amateur career, which matters whether you like him or not.

So yeah, Rolly is a real boxer. So is Jake Paul.
Different paths, different ceilings, but dismissing Jake entirely while defending Rolly because of belts and vibesis just selective outrage.

[joshj909]

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

You’re missing the point of the comparison.

I’m not saying Jake Paul and Rolly Romero are the same level of boxer. I’m saying opportunities, titles, and money are not proof of legitimacy or quality.

Rolly being a two/three-time champ sounds impressive until you look closer:

Vacant belts, a very questionable stoppage against Grandpa Barroso, a win over Ryan Garcia who looked awful and is of PEDs.
Outside of that, his resume is thin and he’s been badly exposed by elite fighters.

Rolly is extremely limited technically and still got massive opportunities because he’s marketable. That’s boxing. Jake Paul benefits from the exact same thing.

Saying Jake “treats the sport like a joke” doesn’t hold up. He trains seriously, works with legit coaches and fighters, fights under real rules, accepts losses, and actually looks like a boxer in the ring. You can hate the matchmaking without pretending he’s not a boxer at all.

Also like I said, early-career Mayweather and Crawford were fighting journeymen at a similar number of fights, with long amateur backgrounds. Jake is doing this with zero amateur career, which matters whether you like him or not.

So yeah, Rolly is a real boxer. So is Jake Paul.
Different paths, different ceilings, but dismissing Jake entirely while defending Rolly because of belts and vibesis just selective outrage.

They are entirely different levels. Rolly Is undeserved because of his level but Paul is 10x more undeserved in total. The attention, money and how bad the opponents are is nothing in comparison.

Mayweather and Crawford worked their way up through the sport the same way 90% of others boxers do. Paul can pick absolutely any opponent in his division at any time but he chooses not to, while saying he's better than them but instead choosing to face non-boxers. He's paid for the best trainers, he's on the juice, he's put in the time in the gym but at the end of the day he's still a poser until he puts the work in in the ring, which he has not been doing.

[hhaehre]

Because Jake Paul is an annoying chode and a disrespectful twit. He takes nothing seriously so people think he's making a joke out of boxing.

He does take boxing seriously though, and he is a good boxer. He obviously trains hard with great trainers, and he looks like a boxer in the ring, not an asshat who is trying to mock the sport.

But his fights are ridiculous spectacle matchups for the most part. He's not taking the path of a serious boxer in terms of his career. He would not have gotten a fight with AJ if he were. And that's why he's not considered a "real" boxer by boxing fans.

Rolly Romero is also limited as a boxer and still made more money and got more opportunities than 99% of fighters. Nobody says he isn’t a boxer because of that. So dismissing Jake as “not a real boxer” just because of that doesn’t make much sense.

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

With the exception of maybe his two first fights and the Tyson fight, Paul has not fought worse opposition than what normally is fed prospects coming up. The difference is that he has been smart enough to face mma guys with name recognition rather than the regular record padding Tijuana cab drivers.

[joshj909]

Rolly Romero is also limited as a boxer and still made more money and got more opportunities than 99% of fighters. Nobody says he isn’t a boxer because of that. So dismissing Jake as “not a real boxer” just because of that doesn’t make much sense.

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

With the exception of maybe his two first fights and the Tyson fight, Paul has not fought worse opposition than what normally is fed prospects coming up. The difference is that he has been smart enough to face mma guys with name recognition rather than the regular record padding Tijuana cab drivers.

Jake Askren, Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz, Nate Robinson, Ali Eson Gib, Mike Perry, 2024 Mike Tyson and 2022 Anderson Silva all lose to a genuine cruiserweight journeyman that's turned up to fight. Retired Andre August and Ryan Bourland fit the mould for the level of opponents for prospects but the fact that they were retired already says a lot.

What level would you say Tommy Fury is?

[Ruthless-RKO]

Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua drug testing carried out by USADA, not VADA

The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has presided over the drug testing for the upcoming heavyweight bout between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul, with both fighters having been tested “well over half a dozen times,” according to Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn.

The event is being promoted by MVP – led by Paul and Nakisa Bidarian – meaning the drug-testing for the fights was at its discretion. For Paul’s last bout, a 10-round decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr, the highly respected Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) was responsible for testing the fighters.

“We didn't request no VADA testing [this time], we requested more intense testing with USADA, which is in place,” Bidarian told Boxing Scene.

Paul had been scheduled to take on Gervonta Davis until the lightweight ran into out-of-the-ring legal issues and on November 17, a little more than four weeks ago, Joshua was confirmed as a shock replacement.

“The most comprehensive program that the US Olympics use is USADA,” Bidarian continued. “When Jake [Paul] was going to fight Gervonta Davis, he put forward VADA. Gervonta [Davis] was very concerned, given he's a smaller man. His team wanted USADA, so we agreed to USADA. When we moved on to fight Anthony Joshua, we said, ‘Of course you want a drug test, but we're using USADA’.”

Hearn claims he and Joshua were happy to be tested by USADA, though he did stipulate that the decision to not use VADA – widely regarded as the leaders in the field – had nothing to do with them. “That was a decision from MVP,” Hearn said.

Asked whether they pushed for VADA testing, he added: “Yeah, but we've been VADA-tested our whole career. USADA are a very reputable agency as well.

“We didn't have a problem with it. USADA are extremely reputable, it's not like some random agency that's popped up from nowhere. But we were tested by UKAD as well. Well over half-a-dozen tests, I believe. So we were happy with the procedure.”

[hhaehre]

Rolly Romero, the two (three including interim) weight world champion with a win over Ryan Garcia and has faced, albeit coming up short, against another world class opponent? Why should he be considered the same as Paul? Romero might be limited in compared to those at the top of his weight class but he's not treated the sport like a joke with pantomime fights like Paul. He's an actual boxer that has boxed legitimate opponents which aren't money grab-pushover fights against retired athletes. Weird comparison.

With the exception of maybe his two first fights and the Tyson fight, Paul has not fought worse opposition than what normally is fed prospects coming up. The difference is that he has been smart enough to face mma guys with name recognition rather than the regular record padding Tijuana cab drivers.

Jake Askren, Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz, Nate Robinson, Ali Eson Gib, Mike Perry, 2024 Mike Tyson and 2022 Anderson Silva all lose to a genuine cruiserweight journeyman that's turned up to fight. Retired Andre August and Ryan Bourland fit the mould for the level of opponents for prospects but the fact that they were retired already says a lot.

What level would you say Tommy Fury is?

Gib and Robinson are not boxers and neither were Paul when he fought them, so I disregard those two. The rest is the about the level of what someone like Jai Opetaia fought in his first 12 fights, give or take. Most prospects are not fed journeymen that turns up to fight early in their career. Tommy Fury is reasonably good boxer, probably close to state champion level in the mid west. Maybe something like regional level in Britain?
Do you not regard Jake Paul as a legitimate boxer?

[joshj909]

With the exception of maybe his two first fights and the Tyson fight, Paul has not fought worse opposition than what normally is fed prospects coming up. The difference is that he has been smart enough to face mma guys with name recognition rather than the regular record padding Tijuana cab drivers.

Jake Askren, Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz, Nate Robinson, Ali Eson Gib, Mike Perry, 2024 Mike Tyson and 2022 Anderson Silva all lose to a genuine cruiserweight journeyman that's turned up to fight. Retired Andre August and Ryan Bourland fit the mould for the level of opponents for prospects but the fact that they were retired already says a lot.

What level would you say Tommy Fury is?

Gib and Robinson are not boxers and neither were Paul when he fought them, so I disregard those two. The rest is the about the level of what someone like Jai Opetaia fought in his first 12 fights, give or take. Most prospects are not fed journeymen that turns up to fight early in their career. Tommy Fury is reasonably good boxer, probably close to state champion level in the mid west. Maybe something like regional level in Britain?
Do you not regard Jake Paul as a legitimate boxer?

Paul is a boxer. His opposition almost always aren't which is the problem.

Opetaia was building experience and earning his position in the division and eventually leading to earn a title shot. Paul talks like he's has earned his place at the top of the division yet he doesn't take the title shot he could have if he wanted. The attention, the money and the credit being given to Paul is way more than Opetaia was getting at that point.

[hhaehre]

Jake Askren, Tyron Woodley, Nate Diaz, Nate Robinson, Ali Eson Gib, Mike Perry, 2024 Mike Tyson and 2022 Anderson Silva all lose to a genuine cruiserweight journeyman that's turned up to fight. Retired Andre August and Ryan Bourland fit the mould for the level of opponents for prospects but the fact that they were retired already says a lot.

What level would you say Tommy Fury is?

Gib and Robinson are not boxers and neither were Paul when he fought them, so I disregard those two. The rest is the about the level of what someone like Jai Opetaia fought in his first 12 fights, give or take. Most prospects are not fed journeymen that turns up to fight early in their career. Tommy Fury is reasonably good boxer, probably close to state champion level in the mid west. Maybe something like regional level in Britain?
Do you not regard Jake Paul as a legitimate boxer?

Paul is a boxer. His opposition almost always aren't which is the problem.

Opetaia was building experience and earning his position in the division and eventually leading to earn a title shot. Paul talks like he's has earned his place at the top of the division yet he doesn't take the title shot he could have if he wanted. The attention, the money and the credit being given to Paul is way more than Opetaia was getting at that point.

Of course Paul hasn't earned a shot at Joshua. What I'm saying is that up to this point he has met roughly the same level of opposition that a normal protected prospect would.
Joshua is a massive jump up in every department and Paul will almost certainly get knocked out, but I can't fault him nor Joshua for taking the fight and the money.

The way I see it Paul had three option going forward after the Chavez Jr. fight.
1. Keep fighting retired name fighters. Probably could have fought someone like Froch.
2. Actually step up to a top 25-30 Cruiserweight and see what he could do in that division.
3. Take the biggest fight he could find in the heavyweight division. Of the ones he could get, it was Joshua.

He chose the most unlikely option, probably because of delusion, but still it took balls do do it.

The reason he can get these fights is simply because of the money he can generate. Maybe not fair, but that's life.

[joshj909]

Gib and Robinson are not boxers and neither were Paul when he fought them, so I disregard those two. The rest is the about the level of what someone like Jai Opetaia fought in his first 12 fights, give or take. Most prospects are not fed journeymen that turns up to fight early in their career. Tommy Fury is reasonably good boxer, probably close to state champion level in the mid west. Maybe something like regional level in Britain?
Do you not regard Jake Paul as a legitimate boxer?

Paul is a boxer. His opposition almost always aren't which is the problem.

Opetaia was building experience and earning his position in the division and eventually leading to earn a title shot. Paul talks like he's has earned his place at the top of the division yet he doesn't take the title shot he could have if he wanted. The attention, the money and the credit being given to Paul is way more than Opetaia was getting at that point.

Of course Paul hasn't earned a shot at Joshua. What I'm saying is that up to this point he has met roughly the same level of opposition that a normal protected prospect would.
Joshua is a massive jump up in every department and Paul will almost certainly get knocked out, but I can't fault him nor Joshua for taking the fight and the money.

The way I see it Paul had three option going forward after the Chavez Jr. fight.
1. Keep fighting retired name fighters. Probably could have fought someone like Froch.
2. Actually step up to a top 25-30 Cruiserweight and see what he could do in that division.
3. Take the biggest fight he could find in the heavyweight division. Of the ones he could get, it was Joshua.

He chose the most unlikely option, probably because of delusion, but still it took balls do do it.

The reason he can get these fights is simply because of the money he can generate. Maybe not fair, but that's life.

And that is why it's a pantomime

[keithmoonhangover]

Paul is a boxer. His opposition almost always aren't which is the problem.

Opetaia was building experience and earning his position in the division and eventually leading to earn a title shot. Paul talks like he's has earned his place at the top of the division yet he doesn't take the title shot he could have if he wanted. The attention, the money and the credit being given to Paul is way more than Opetaia was getting at that point.

Of course Paul hasn't earned a shot at Joshua. What I'm saying is that up to this point he has met roughly the same level of opposition that a normal protected prospect would.
Joshua is a massive jump up in every department and Paul will almost certainly get knocked out, but I can't fault him nor Joshua for taking the fight and the money.

The way I see it Paul had three option going forward after the Chavez Jr. fight.
1. Keep fighting retired name fighters. Probably could have fought someone like Froch.
2. Actually step up to a top 25-30 Cruiserweight and see what he could do in that division.
3. Take the biggest fight he could find in the heavyweight division. Of the ones he could get, it was Joshua.

He chose the most unlikely option, probably because of delusion, but still it took balls do do it.

The reason he can get these fights is simply because of the money he can generate. Maybe not fair, but that's life.

And that is why it's a pantomime

Once Joshua knocks his teeth out, I think Jake might turn to MMA and either fight some famous debutants or Chuck Liddle, Tito Ortiz etc

[gilgamesh]

Of course Paul hasn't earned a shot at Joshua. What I'm saying is that up to this point he has met roughly the same level of opposition that a normal protected prospect would.
Joshua is a massive jump up in every department and Paul will almost certainly get knocked out, but I can't fault him nor Joshua for taking the fight and the money.

The way I see it Paul had three option going forward after the Chavez Jr. fight.
1. Keep fighting retired name fighters. Probably could have fought someone like Froch.
2. Actually step up to a top 25-30 Cruiserweight and see what he could do in that division.
3. Take the biggest fight he could find in the heavyweight division. Of the ones he could get, it was Joshua.

He chose the most unlikely option, probably because of delusion, but still it took balls do do it.

The reason he can get these fights is simply because of the money he can generate. Maybe not fair, but that's life.

And that is why it's a pantomime

Once Joshua knocks his teeth out, I think Jake might turn to MMA and either fight some famous debutants or Chuck Liddle, Tito Ortiz etc

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

[keithmoonhangover]

And that is why it's a pantomime

Once Joshua knocks his teeth out, I think Jake might turn to MMA and either fight some famous debutants or Chuck Liddle, Tito Ortiz etc

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

He won't need the UFC, like he doesn't need PBC, Matchroom or Top Rank now.

[Sendo Takeshi]

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

Yeah, the bald tomato doesn't like Jake.
I'm pretty sure him vs Usyk in the PFL was "discussed" before.
Could be very well a thing in 2026.

[joshj909]

And that is why it's a pantomime

Once Joshua knocks his teeth out, I think Jake might turn to MMA and either fight some famous debutants or Chuck Liddle, Tito Ortiz etc

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

Paul is technically contracted to the PFL if he wants an MMA fight (which I highly doubt he will).

[gilgamesh]

Once Joshua knocks his teeth out, I think Jake might turn to MMA and either fight some famous debutants or Chuck Liddle, Tito Ortiz etc

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

Paul is technically contracted to the PFL if he wants an MMA fight (which I highly doubt he will).

Weird that he'd be under contract in a sport he's never competed in. Did he need to sign with them to get some of his Boxing matches with MMA guys or something?

[joshj909]

If he's gonna turn to MMA he better do it somewhere besides the UFC, because the UFC would make sure he lost his 1st fight with them.

Paul is technically contracted to the PFL if he wants an MMA fight (which I highly doubt he will).

Weird that he'd be under contract in a sport he's never competed in. Did he need to sign with them to get some of his Boxing matches with MMA guys or something?

I believe he signed with them as a advisory or promotional type agreement but he never decided to actually fight.

https://pflmma.com/news/professional-fi ... ent-in-mma

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/ckg1220pxd7o

[Ruthless-RKO]

Not long to go for this then

[Ruthless-RKO]

Final prediction?

[Ruthless-RKO]

I think Joshua will take this as serious as he took Ngannou to some level.

He won’t let it drag out.

He’ll let it be a mercy stoppage