Anthony Joshua considers lucrative fight with Jake Paul
Anthony Joshua is in line for an extraordinary payday of around £70 million should he agree to face Jake Paul in Miami this Christmas, a figure that would rank among the most lucrative of his career, reports BritPanorama.
The proposed bout, which stunned the boxing world when news of advanced negotiations broke on Wednesday night, is expected to be broadcast live on Netflix with December 12 or 19 under consideration. The scale of the financial package reflects the global spectacle the streaming platform intends to create around a fight many regard as one of the most improbable matchups of the modern era.
Paul, who had been preparing to meet Gervonta Davis on Friday, saw that contest collapse after Davis was accused by a former girlfriend of battery, false imprisonment, and kidnapping. As a result, the American has been idle since outpointing Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in June. Meanwhile, Joshua has endured his own extended period of inactivity, having not fought since suffering a crushing knockout against Daniel Dubois last September, marking a prolonged absence from the ring.
His rehabilitation has been slow and largely private, though there had been mounting expectation that he would return before the year’s end. A short notice meeting with Paul promises a vast financial reward, even if it has unsettled purists concerned about its competitive legitimacy. According to the Daily Mail, the prize fund for the event stands at £140 million, to be split evenly between the two fighters.
The sum would dwarf Joshua’s typical earnings. He is believed to have pocketed around £30 million for his brutal stoppage of Francis Ngannou in March 2024, a fight that restored confidence in his knockout power. Two years ago, he reportedly secured £10 million for beating Jermaine Franklin and took home a similar figure after dispatching Robert Helenius in August 2023. His last match also closed the year with a dominant display against Otto Wallin which yielded approximately £10 million.
Paul’s commercial appeal has risen sharply since his transition from online celebrity to professional boxer. He routinely earns around $10 million per fight on pay-per-view and collected a reported $40 million for his exhibition with Mike Tyson last November. That contest marked Netflix’s first attempt at live boxing and drew astonishing viewership, peaking at an estimated 65 million concurrent streams.
A clash with Joshua is expected to outstrip even those numbers, though details of the ruleset and structure remain unresolved. Nakisa Bidarian, Paul’s business partner and co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, has previously insisted that any meeting between the pair would be contested as a full professional bout. “This would be pursued as a straight-up professional fight,” he stated, acknowledging the experience gap between Joshua and Paul.
Bidarian acknowledged the scale of the challenge Paul would face against a seasoned heavyweight, highlighting that, “the likelihood of Anthony Joshua being able to land a heavyweight punch is much higher than what Mike Tyson had.” He also mentioned the importance of giving Paul time to improve his boxing skills to effectively neutralise Joshua’s power.
As the potential matchup looms, the boxing world remains divided on its merit, balancing the allure of a financial windfall with concerns over the fight’s legitimacy in a classic contest of skill.
In the end, however, the boxing landscape is often dictated by the allure of spectacle, and this upcoming bout appears set to deliver just that, intertwining the lines of sport and entertainment as the year draws to a close.
