Boxing

Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua: What are the other biggest weight differences in heavyweight fights?

Published

11 months ago

December 19, 2025

When Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua weigh in on Thursday ahead of their eight-round heavyweight fight on December 19 in Miami, a significant weight difference can be expected.

Former YouTuber Paul moves up from his usual cruiserweight division to fight Joshua, who has been one of the greatest of his heavyweight peers throughout his era.

Joshua’s most recent weigh-in was for his fight with Daniel Dubois at 252 pounds. Meanwhile, Paul weighed 227 pounds when he faced the aging Mike Tyson in a heavyweight fight.

However, this is not the first time that there has been a significant weight difference between two fighters. Here are some other fights that have thrown things off balance.

Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk (2024)

Weight difference: 55 pounds

Tyson Fury: 281 pounds

Oleksandr Usyk: 226 pounds

Result: Usyk won by unanimous decision

Significance: Both men opted to employ heavier means in the second fight than in their first meeting in May 2024. The fury increased by as much as 19 pounds when Usyk gained only 2 pounds – it was the heaviest weight the Briton has ever made in his career. Many viewed Fury’s decision to attack harder as an attempt to bully Usyk and dominate the rematch.

Roy Jones Jr. vs. John Ruiz (2003)

Weight difference: 31 pounds

Roy Jones Jr.: 193 pounds

John Ruiz: 224 pounds

Result: Jones Jr. win. a massive unanimous decision

Meaning: Jones Jr. became the first former middleweight champion in over 100 years to win the heavyweight title in a fight dubbed Never Take A Heavyweight Lightly. Despite losing weight, height and reach in favor of the Puerto Rican, Jones Jr conducted a masterclass in technical boxing and picked the 31-year-old Ruiz at will.

Nikolai Valuev vs. David Haye (2009)

Weight difference: 98 pounds

Nikolai Valuev: ~316 pounds

David Haye: 218 pounds

Result: Haye used his speed to secure a majority victory

Meaning: This is one of the largest weight discrepancies in world title fight history and has literally been described as a David vs. Goliath fight. Haye scored the win and broke his arm in the process, describing Valuev’s header as “the hardest thing I’ve ever hit.” It’s like hitting a solid brick wall. With the victory, the Londoner became the first Briton to hold the world heavyweight crown since Lennox Lewis retired in 2003.

Nikolai Valuev vs. John Ruiz (2005)

Weight difference: ~86 lbs

Nikolai Valuev: over 320 pounds

John Ruiz: ~238 lbs

Result: Valuev won a controversial majority decision to become the tallest and heaviest champion in history.

Meaning: This one was extremely controversial given the weight difference between the fighters – it also infuriated the crowd as Valuev relied on clenching and holding despite his significant size advantage. Valuev’s victory also made him the first Russian world heavyweight champion. Ruiz was furious after the fight, stating that: “Boxing is the only sport where you can get robbed without a gun.”

Daniel Dubois vs. Jarrell Miller (2023)

Weight difference: 94 pounds

Daniel Dubois: 239 pounds

Jarrell Miller: 333 pounds

Result: Dubois stopped Miller in the 10th round.

Significance: Despite a huge weight disadvantage, Dubois’ conditioning allowed him to outwork the much heavier Miller and he secured the victory over Miller with seconds remaining in their 10-round heavyweight bout in Ridyah. It was a tardy attack from the Briton that swung the fight in his favor after Miller took multiple punches thrown in the early rounds. Dubois also landed a career-high 208 punches in the fight.

Fabio Wardley vs. Dennis Lewandowski (2019)

Weight difference: ~120 lbs

Fabio Wardley: ~230 lbs

Dennis Lewandowski: ~350 pounds

Result: Wardley won by TKO in the 3rd round.

Meaning: One of the most extreme weight differences seen in state-of-the-art professional fighting. Wardley handed Lewandowski his first defeat at the distance, securing his seventh victory in a row and sixth after the break. The Ipswich-born fighter started stringing together combinations in the third quarter, bled Lewandowski’s nose and knocked him down twice with right uppercuts – the referee had seen enough and stopped the fight in round 3.

Boxing

Robert Garcia Analyzes Tim Tszyus Odds Against Erislandy Lara | Boxing News

Published

2 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Robert Garcia Analyzes Tim Tszyu's Odds Against Erislandy Lara | Boxing News"

Tim Tszyu seeks to become Australia’s third multi-divisional boxing world champion when he competes for Erislandy Lara’s WBA middleweight title next month, and ahead of the action, trainer Robert Garcia has offered his thoughts on the fight.

Tszyu lost his WBO super-welterweight title in a defeat to Sebastian Fundora back in 2024 and twice failed to reclaim 154lb honours, both against Bakhram Murtazaliev and in a rematch with Fundora.

Since then, the Aussie has stepped up to middleweight and scored a career-best win over Errol Spence Jr earlier this yearand now, the 32-year-old could join lead trainer Jeff Fenech and Liam Paro as his nation’s third two-weight world champion, if he can trump 43-year-old.

Speaking with ProBox TVRobert Garcia, who trains a potential future Tszyu opponent in Vergil Ortiz, admitted that he is leaning towards the home fighter, but noted that Lara will not be phased by competing in the challenger’s backyard.

“We can probably lean towards Tim Tsyzu because he is fighting at home, in front of his hometown, but Lara is not the fighter that brings in a lot of fans following him.

“He doesn’t have a following, he is not one that is going to sell out arenas, so even if it is in the United States, it is likely that most of the people are going to be [there] for Tim Tszyu because Australians do travel and Tim Tszyu has a lot of fans.

“For Lara, going to Australia is like going to Las Vegas or going to New York because he never has that following anyways. Anywhere he goes, he is going to be against the crowd. So, I think for him it is going to be one of those performances where it doesn’t make a difference if he is going to Tim Tsyzu’s hometown.”

Tszyu-Lara takes place at the Cbus Super Stadium in Queensland, Australia on Sunday 13 December.

Boxing

Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight

Published

3 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight"

Deontay Wilder’s former head coach Malik Scott has delivered a knockout prediction for the American’s upcoming showdown with Jai Opetaia.

The pair will square off at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, with Opetaia making his heavyweight debut on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.

Despite him being the naturally smaller man, many are favouring the Australian – a former two-time world cruiserweight champion – to defeat his 10-years-older opponent.

It is, after all, generally accepted that Wilder has declined significantly since his trilogy bout with Furywho survived two knockdowns and scored an 11th-round knockout in their 2021 encounter.

Back then, Wilder had just joined forces with Scott, his former opponent, and the pair maintained their fighter-trainer relationship through subsequent defeats against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

With Wilder now operating under different coaches, though, Scott has shared a balanced view of the Opetaia fight with Seconds Out.

“The fight’s got dynamite written all over it. Jai Opetaia is very dangerous, but he’s a smaller man that’s been hurt by smaller men than Deontay, slower men than Deontay.

“I’ve never seen Opetaia get hit by nobody like Deontay; I’ve seen Deontay get hit by bigger punchers than Opetaia. [But] one thing we can expect in this fight is a knockout.

“The name of the fight is ‘bad intentions’ – at least that’s what I’m calling it, because that’s what they share in common. What they share in common is mentality – they both are trying to hurt you.”

While he stopped short of predicting a winner, it is perhaps telling that Scott, despite his relationship with Wilder, has not explicitly favoured him to win by knockout.