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Paul vs. Joshua: Everything you need to know about the boxing match

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Jake Paul will make a huge step up in competition when he faces former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on December 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami (Netflix). This is a drastic change of gear after Paul was originally scheduled to face WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis in an exhibition fight at the 195-pound catchweight division last Friday. However, Paul’s fight with Davis was canceled on November 3 following a lawsuit filed against Davis by his ex-girlfriend, accusing him of battery, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Paul will face Joshua, an opponent 100 pounds heavier than Davis, in a professionally sanctioned heavyweight boxing match. Unlike his exhibition fight against Davis, Paul won’t have a size advantage to make up for the skill gap. Joshua fights at around 250 pounds, while Paul fights in the cruiserweight limit of 200 pounds. Paul wanted to shock the world and pull off what could be one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

But how did we get here and what does it all mean?


Why does Paul fight with Joshua?

After Paul’s exhibition with Davis was canceled, the YouTuber-turned-boxer did everything he could to compete before the end of 2025. According to Most Valuable Promotions, Paul’s promotional team, there were talks with several potential opponents before landing Joshua.

Earlier this year, Paul expressed interest in fighting Joshua and included him on his revised hit list, which he recently shared with ESPN. However, the original schedule for the Joshua fight had the two meeting sometime in 2026, after the Davis fight. Paul quickly turned his attention to Joshua, who was sidelined after elbow surgery in June, and the two sides reached an agreement.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, told ESPN that Joshua wants to fight one fight in behind schedule 2025 and then plans to fight fellow British heavyweight Tyson Fury in 2026.


Is this an exhibition fight?

NO. The Paul vs. Joshua fight will be a sanctioned heavyweight bout scheduled for eight three-minute rounds. Fighters will also wear 10-ounce gloves, which are standard in heavyweight bouts.

Paul is much closer in weight to Joshua, but now he will have to deal with both the size and skill difference. Joshua – a former Olympic gold medalist and two-time heavyweight champion – weighed from 254 pounds to just 229 pounds during his professional career. Paul’s highest weight during his November 2024 exhibition against former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson was 227¼ pounds. Paul weighed in at 199.4 pounds in his last fight and won against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June.


Why would Paul want to fight Joshua now?

Stupidity with a hint of delusional self-confidence?

Say what you will about Paul, but he persistently challenges himself even though he is still considered a novice in boxing. Paul faced criticism for his choice of opponents. His career has included MMA fighters, YouTubers, a former NBA dunk champion, boxing journeymen, and a retired heavyweight. In his last fight, Paul fought Chavez, a former middleweight champion who was the closest thing to a “real” boxer, and dominated a fighter whose best days were long behind him.

The last time Joshua was in the ring with a boxing novice, he knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in two rounds in March 2024.

Still, Paul wants to test himself and we’ll see what condition he’ll be in when he steps into the ring with Joshua.


Why would Joshua fight Jake Paul?

Why wouldn’t he do it? It’s a low-risk, high-reward fight, played on a massive stage and streamed worldwide on Netflix. Joshua has faced some of the best heavyweights of his generation and has already been eyeing a fight before the end of 2025. As one of the biggest stars in British boxing history, this fight will also raise his profile in the United States, where he has not fought since his disastrous knockout defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. at Novel York’s Madison Square Garden in 2019.

The only market Joshua hasn’t cornered is the United States, and facing someone with Paul’s reach will certainly support if he faces Fury in 2026.


How will this affect Joshua’s career?

play

2:46

Hearn: Only Turki Al-Sheikh can beat Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury

Eddie Hearn talks about a potential fight between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

If Joshua does what most think he will do and defeats Paul definitively, his plans for a mega fight with Fury will remain intact. Fury is retired but could be persuaded to return to fight Joshua.

We saw what Joshua did to Ngannou five months after the latter almost pulled off a massive upset in a split decision loss to Fury. It’s unlikely that Joshua will be interested in taking Paul to a thrilling fight. However, with each round Paul survives, Joshua’s stock could take a hit. And if the fight is in any way close, there will be questions about Joshua’s current place in boxing. The last time in the ring in September 2024, he was stopped in five rounds by Daniel Dubois. This can be forgiven given Dubois’s track record in boxing. Competing with the less experienced and smaller Paul did not bode well for his future.


How will this affect Paul’s career?

This is an fascinating question because a highly decorated, hard-hitting heavyweight is expected to categorically beat Paul, and the chances of an upset are high for Paul. This is a fight that Paul should lose and therefore the idea of ​​getting into the ring and surviving could give him a moral victory as long as he is not brutally knocked out early in the fight.

If Paul can somehow find a way to make himself competitive, it will only support enhance his boxing stock. He has already proven that defeat will not completely ruin his career and his massive presence on social media will allow him to lick his wounds and come back, if not more marketable, after gaining the respect of the boxing community that criticized his boxing career.

This is a no-lose situation for Paul as at this point in his career he should never have had the opportunity to step into the ring with the former heavyweight champion. Any time spent on your feet will be a victory. However, if it lands on the wrong end of a knockout in the most critical moments, it will go viral for all the wrong reasons.

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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.

Premier Boxing Champions | PBC on NBC

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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