Like Him or Loathe Him, Give Credit to Jake Paul for Facing Anthony Joshua

This won't be easy.

But it's time to straighten the tie, clear the throat, and do something that doesn't come naturally to those who consider themselves real boxing fans.

We've got to give some credit to Jake Paul.

Conditionally, anyway.

Because if Monday's wave of press releases is true and the former YouTube rabblerouser indeed plans to be in a ring in Miami come Dec. 19, he deserves it.

The PR apparatus for Paul's Most Valuable Promotions company was hard at work confirming rumors that their guy would move on from an aborted exhibition with Gervonta Davis to instead face Anthony Joshua in an eight-round fight at the Kaseya Center six days before Christmas.

Yes. That Anthony Joshua. And yes. A real fight.

The guy who won super heavyweight gold at the 2012 Olympics. The guy who's made two legitimate claims—as legitimate as there can be in the sport's modern era anyway—to professional heavyweight supremacy. And the guy who, the last time he faced a guy trying to break into the realm of "real boxers," vaporized him inside of two rounds.

You remember Joshua vs. Ngannou, right? Here's a reminder.

To say it's a departure from Paul's norm is a 200-plus-pound understatement.

Though he's racked up 12 wins in 13 fights and flirted with cruiserweight rankings recognition from credibility-bereft sanctioning bodies, the authenticity of the "Problem Child's" ring forays over five years has veered from totally laughable to simply ridiculous.

He began with a one-round squash of fellow influencer Ali Eson Gib in early 2020 before graduating to a two-round erasure of former NBA point guard Nate Robinson as a sideshow to the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. pay-per-view circus 10 months later.

The next two years yielded a series of combat-familiar but boxing-limited exiles from Dana White's UFC fiefdom, a run interrupted only by the lone blemish on the masterpiece: a surprise split-decision loss to Tommy Fury—perhaps best described as an England-based Paul wannabe—when the big top touched down in Saudi Arabia.

Paul framed subsequent small-stage wipeouts of Andre August and Ryan Bourland as worthwhile triumphs despite their combined 43.06 win percentage (114-153-14) and parlayed them into a return to the sort of spotlight that only outpointing a 58-year-old Tyson and a comprehensively shopworn Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. can bring.

But this is different. By quite a lot.

Though Joshua isn't bulletproof, given a 6-4 record with two KO losses since a 22-0 start, the superiority of his opposition is comical by comparison. He's beaten four men who've held a share of the heavyweight title—including 18-defense claimant Wladimir Klitschko in 2017—and returned to outclass Andy Ruiz six months after a shocking KO loss in New York.

He went 4-0 across an 11-month stretch as recently as 2023 into 2024, squashing Ngannou and fringe contenders Robert Helenius and Otto Wallin in a combined 14 rounds after winning at least nine of 12 rounds on all three cards against veteran Jermaine Franklin Jr.

And while a KO by Daniel Dubois in his most recent fight, 14 months ago, is hardly an endorsement, the idea that a relative novice with no world-class experience would not only step in with a guy who stands five inches taller and has a six-inch edge in reach, but harbor even a fleeting hope of winning is a breathtaking display of hubris.

A stroke of marketing genius, or evidence of a lack of good sense, if you prefer.

"This is completely insane," recent International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Randy Gordon, also a former editor-in-chief of The Ring and ex-chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, told Bleacher Report. "AJ should win. He will make tens of millions in what should be an easier fight than one against (Tyson) Fury."

Indeed, though Joshua's reported haul for the South Florida business trip is a cool $50 million, he remains in the running for a comparable or even bigger payday if he secures a date with Fury, who's been perpetually back and forth when discussing his British rival.

That's got to be bad news for Paul.

It seems particularly unlikely Joshua would risk either his bank account or his reputation back home with anything less than the full effort needed to dispatch a pretender—just as he did when a menacing Ngannou crept into his competitive backyard last year.

It's one thing for a long-faded flop or an AARP-eligible ghost to play Paul's straight man in exchange for some buzz and a paycheck. But, even at 36, a two-time unified champ ought to have enough muscle memory—and enough respect for the game—to keep himself out of any real danger beyond the gentle waves on Biscayne Bay.

"They say be careful what you wish for, kind of feel like that's all I need to say," Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn, said in Monday's PR volley.

"Two of the biggest names in the sport will collide on Dec. 19. Whilst I admire Jake's balls, he's going to find out the hard way in Miami."