Jake Paul will take on the former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Dec. 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, Most Valuable Promotions confirmed Monday. The 10-round heavyweight fight will stream on Netflix and be a professional boxing match, rather than an exhibition.
The news follows widespread reports this past week that Paul vs. Joshua was in discussions.
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Paul and Joshua began talks earlier this year for a 2026 fight, however plans were expedited forward after Paul’s Nov. 14 bout with Gervonta “Tank” Davis was canceled just 10 days prior to fight night due to new domestic violence accusations levied against Davis by his ex-girlfriend, Courtney Rossel.
“AJ” is essentially treating Paul as a tune-up bout while he subsequently plans a February fight in Saudi Arabia against a top heavyweight contender. Turki Alalshikh, boxing’s top current fight financier, revealed such intentions on the Conor Benn vs. Chris Eubank Jr. 2 broadcast this past Saturday.
“We will have Joshua in our country in February,” Alalshikh said. “Then there is the big fight, one of the great fights in the history of boxing — it will be in London, maybe in September.”
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Alalshikh hinted that a win for Joshua in February will lead to a mega showdown with Tyson Fury next September.
Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) hasn’t fought since being knocked out by Daniel Dubois for the IBF heavyweight title in September 2024. The loss ended a four-fight win streak for the Brit, which included a second-round knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou.
Joshua underwent elbow surgery earlier this year and has been in recovery since. He is also currently without a full-time trainer. After working with Ben Davison for the past three fights, “AJ” has experimented with several coaches in recent weeks and did a stint with Oleksandr Usyk’s training team in Valencia, Spain.
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Paul (12-1, 7 KOs), who is ranked as the No. 14 cruiserweight with the WBA, has defeated back-to-back former world champions. He comfortably beat a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in November 2024 on Netflix’s boxing debut and outpointed Julio Cesar Chávez Jr. this past June in his latest fight.
Joshua marks a gigantic step up for Paul, with some in the boxing industry taking the view that it is a dangerous and unsafe matchup.
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