Promoter Eddie Hearn says he is in talks with Jake Paul’s advisor and co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions (MVP), Nakisa Bidarian, about the fight against Anthony Joshua.
Hearn says that if AJ is going to have a “run-out fight,” he sees a clash with Jake Paul as a good option for “a lot of money.” This makes financial sense as there would be a significant amount of interest, thanks to Paul’s massive social media following and his marketing skills.
Hearn wants to knock out former two-time heavyweight champion Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) before the end of 2025 to prepare him for a world title fight in 2026 or the long-awaited showdown against Tyson Fury.
Jake Paul’s popularity
- YouTube: 20.9 million subscribers
- Instagram: 28.7 million followers
- X (Twitter): 4.6 million followers
- TikTok: 18.5 million followers
It could backfire on Hearn, as Jake (28) is younger than 36-year-old Joshua and possesses world-class punching power in his right hand. Landing one of his shots on AJ’s chin destroys his dreams of fighting Fury once and for all or another world title run.
Hearn Confirms Conversations
“There’s been a few conversations between myself and Nikisa. I think Jake and AJ have spoken as well,” promoter Eddie Hearn said. Matchroom Boxing about his interest in setting up a fight between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul next. “From our point of view, if we’re going to have a run-out fight, why not have a run against Jake Paul for a lot of money?”
From a logical standpoint, it’s a smart move for Joshua and Hearn to fight Jake Paul in December and use him as a tune-up, while making a lot of money in the process.
Hearn has already said that the idea is to select someone for an undercard assignment. However, a fight between Joshua and Paul would not be a typical undercard matchup. There would be too much fan interest to stash that fight away on an undercard.
“So, there are ongoing talks. I can’t tell you they’re close. I can’t tell you we’ve seen a contract,” Hearn said of the Joshua vs. Paul negotiations. “But if he genuinely wants to fight Anthony, I don’t see why he wouldn’t have a chance to have that fight.”
“Our focus is on a shot at the heavyweight world championship and a shot at Tyson Fury. We can’t control that either. Absolutely, at the moment anything is possible,” Hearn said.
There is not much time for Matchroom to negotiate a fight between Joshua and Paul. With December just a month away, Hearn will need to quickly close a deal between them for the mega-fight to take place in December.
Jake Paul’s knockout threat
It’s a fight that could prove to be a disaster for Joshua, as he is coming off a devastating fifth-round knockout against Daniel Dubois on September 21, 2024, and he will be out of the ring for 15 months by the time he faces Paul in December 2025. career.
If you lose to Jake Paul, Joshua will probably retire. There would be no reason for him to continue fighting at that point. He’s just hanging around now hoping to fight Fury and win another world title.
last august, Bidarian made it known that a fight between Joshua and Jake Paul was simply a matter of “hit, ‘go’.” This could be the time to do it, provided they can negotiate a deal quickly enough to push the fight in before the end of the year.
Last updated on 11/07/2025
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