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

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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.

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Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap

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"Davies vs Collins & Heaney vs Warburton II Results: Full Fight Recap"

World Boxing News provides results and updates as Liam Davies faces Nathaniel Collins in the main event at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham.

Davies and Collins collide over 12 rounds for the EBU European featherweight title at the top of the Queensberry Promotions card.

Luke McCormack faces Kay Prospere for the vacant British super lightweight title, while Bradley Goldsmith takes on Amir Abubaker for the IBF International middleweight title.

WBN provides results and updates from every bout as they happen.


Results

All times are local BST.

23:11

Gerome Warburton defeated Nathan Heaney for the second time running as the middleweight put an exclamation mark on his first victory.

Heaney walks away from the sport having been an entertainer through a long carer, without reaching the heights of a world title.

22:04

Liam Davies improved to 19-1 after Nathaniel Collins retired at the end of the seventh round due to a cut over his right eye. Collins had also been dropped in the opening round as Davies successfully defended the European featherweight title.

21:22

Bradley Goldsmith improved to 17-1 with a seventh-round stoppage of Amir Abubaker to retain his IBF International middleweight title. Abubaker went down in the fourth and three times in the seventh before the finish at 2:42.

20:10

Lewis Richardson improved to 3-0 with a shutout six-round points victory over Ivan Trofimovich, earning a 60-54 decision.

19:56

Luke McCormack moved to 6-0 and claimed the vacant British super lightweight title with a tenth-round knockout of Kay Prospere, who was counted out after a right uppercut at 1:28.

18:55

Michael Hussain moved to 5-0 with a four-round points victory over Nabil Ahmed, earning a 39-38 decision.

18:11

Nelson Birchall moved to 12-0 with a third-round stoppage of Lewis Morris, who went down before the finish came at 1:12. Lasha Guruli also remained unbeaten at 5-0 after edging Hughie Wilson 77-75 over eight rounds.

17:22

Early action saw John Tom Varey and Reese Lynch claim four-round victories to move to 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.


TV Coverage

DAZN provides full worldwide coverage.

Follow WBN’s live boxing coverage throughout the event.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

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Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing

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"Janibek Alimkhanuly Shifts Perspective on Hamzah Sheeraz: A New Dynamic in Boxing"

Janibek Alimkhanuly spent months trying to get Hamzah Sheeraz into the ring. Now that Sheeraz has vacated his WBO super middleweight title, Janibek is asking fans to stop saying the former champion ran from him. That is generous. It also leaves Janibek with less to say about a fight he wanted badly.

Janibek’s tone has changed since the purse bid. He was eager to fight, said money was not his priority, and publicly pushed Sheeraz to accept. Queensberry then bid $1,001,809 to stage the ordered defense, beating Top Rank’s $820,000 offer. Sheeraz’s 75 percent share would have been roughly $751,000. Days later, he gave up the belt.

That sequence deserves a closer look. Queensberry put a serious number on the fight, so the bid itself cannot be dismissed as proof that nobody valued it. But winning the right to promote a title defense means little to fans when the champion vacates before it happens.

Sheeraz has objected to Janibek receiving a mandatory shot after his failed drug test. He is entitled to explain that position. Fans are equally entitled to ask why the issue reached a purse bid before he surrendered the title. Janibek’s post supplies no answer.

Perhaps Janibek sees no benefit in branding Sheeraz a coward. Doing so would also make the opponent he chased sound less valuable. Calling Sheeraz a great fighter preserves the idea that this was an important contest, even after the belt and the fight slipped away.

The respect between them may be sincere. Janibek still gets no Sheeraz fight, and Sheeraz no longer has to defend his title against Janibek. A friendly photo does not change either result.

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Boxing 24/7 Wire

Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.

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Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

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Virginia Confirms Decision to Erase Prichard Colón Loss from Records

Virginia has given World Boxing News its final answer on whether Prichard Colón’s last professional defeat can still be challenged, bringing an end to WBN’s long fight to have the result annulled and removed from his record.

WBN has pursued the possibility of changing the controversial disqualification defeat to Terrel Williams, with those efforts continuing following Colón’s death at age 33.

Virginia’s Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation previously explained that a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the result.

WBN pressed Eric Beidel, Communications & Digital Media Manager for the Department of Professional & Occupational Regulation, on whether any avenue remained to challenge the decision.

“And on that final question … as mentioned before, a decision can only be overturned if there is proven collusion, a scorecard error, or a regulatory violation that affected the results,” Beidel graciously responded after providing WBN with transparent answers throughout the investigation.

“In addition, a complaint about a regulatory violation must be filed within three years of the alleged violation.”

The Colón-Williams fight took place on October 17, 2015, meaning that deadline expired years ago.

Virginia Closes Appeal Route

Virginia’s response also addressed whether the result could instead be challenged through an appeal.

“The Administrative Process Act (APA) does create appeal rights to case decisions, but because DPOR never received a complaint in this instance, there was no case or decision that could be appealed under the APA.”

The deadline for filing a complaint about a regulatory violation has expired, while the absence of an original complaint means there is no case decision available to appeal under the APA.

For WBN, Virginia’s response ends a long fight to have the defeat annulled and removed from Colón’s professional record.

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WBN’s Fight for Prichard Colón

It is no secret that WBN and Prichard were close before the most tragic night of his career ended all contact and left us on the outside for the years leading up to his death.

That never stopped WBN from reporting on Prichard, campaigning for change and hoping lessons from what happened to him could help prevent another fighter and family from enduring the same tragedy.

Virginia’s final response may end WBN’s attempts to have the result changed, but it does not end our commitment to Prichard.

Prichard Colón will not be forgotten.

WBN will continue to keep his name alive whenever and wherever possible with the WBN Boxer Pageand push to ensure his fight for life and everything that happened in its aftermath are never allowed to simply disappear from boxing’s memory.

This investigation ends here, but Prichard’s story does not.


About the Author

Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.

Read Phil Jay’s full bio and latest stories.

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