Matchroom CEO Frank Smith foresees a quick finish next month with Anthony Joshua knocking out Jake Paul in the first round in their eight-round fight on December 19.
Smith laughs at the belief Jake (12-1, 7 KOs) has in 36-year-old Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) to be bald. He thinks that idea was planted in Paul’s head by those around him, boosting his confidence.
Still, it’s hard not to consider that a plausible belief given how AJ looked in his knockout loss in his last fight against Daniel Dubois. Joshua looked like a human yo-yo, dropped four times before the carnage ended in the fifth. He was in trouble from the first round in this fight.
“It’s risky. I think Jake Paul is crazy. I think he’s delusional, but respect to him for doing it. He’s getting a lot of money,” Matchroom CEO Frank Smith said. talkSport Boxing about Jake Paul facing Anthony Joshua on December 19th. “I don’t think it goes past the first round. Regardless, it’s pretty irrelevant.
Joshua might be the one who loves this risky fight. He still hopes Turki Alalshikh will set him up in a fight against Tyson Fury in 2026, and could have taken a light hit as his run-out opponent in December. 28-year-old Jake can hit, and he has that Gerrie Coetzee-esque quick release for his right-handed shots.
“I think he walks across the ring and knocks him (Jake Paul) out. But we’re in for a little tune, and everyone’s going to tune in. I think Jake Paul is absolutely wise to do that,” says Smith. “I think he has people around him saying, ‘Anthony Joshua is chinny.’ He said this in interviews. It’s pretty wild, but if this is the world he wants to live in, he’ll find out on December 19th.
“This is the fight we want to make. This is the fight we want to see,” Smith said of a fight between Joshua and Tyson Fury. “That’s definitely what we want to see in 2026. It’s one of the biggest fights in the sport, and I’m very hopeful that we’ll see it.”
Last updated on 27/11/2025
