The first responses from some of my mates when I told them that Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul could be happening: “Shame on AJ” , “Joshua is washed mate”, “That’s a terrible decision mate”. I have to say I agree with the sentiments there, and I have to say I am absolutely embarrassed as a fan of Anthony Joshua at the prospect of him fighting JAKE PAUL, and not just fighting him, but fighting him NEXT MONTH. I am absolutely stunned at the sheer prospect of such a thing. Yes we saw AJ fight a non-boxer before, but that was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion, who in his previous fight took TYSON FURY (then heavyweight champion himself) to his limit in their fight, this would be VERY different. People genuinely believed Ngannou had a chance against AJ, I did not. I thought the fight that Francis had with Fury would actually be a negative for his chances of beating Joshua, because there was not a chance after seeing that, that AJ would take him lightly. And so he did not, and quickly flattened him with a brutal knockout. If this joke fight happens with Jake Paul and AJ, I don’t think Joshua get’s even a smidgen of credit if he repeats that again this time around.

First and foremost, I think Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul is dangerous, for Jake. Regardless of my opinion of him, I genuinely think that his health could be at risk. Based upon that alone, I think this shouldn’t be anything close to a licensed fight. I don’t even think it should be allowed as an exhibition. Lets not try and pretend this would be anything else than a jumped up sparring session. Because you wouldn’t have a serious competitive fight between these two based upon anything else other than money. Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul, Tommy Fury also beat the YouTuber KSI, but I can’t say he was super-convincing. Tommy is someone who could win a British title, maybe… so we are talking about putting a 2x Heavyweight Champion (who was in heavyweight title fights in the last few years by the way), against a guy who probably wouldn’t win a national level title fight? Doesn’t sound right to me…

There will of course be talk from the AJ camp that this is just a warm-up fight, plus they can make a tonne of money at the same time, which… whatever… but I really think he’d be better off sparring a top pro in the gym if he wanted a “warm up”.

I think this is lose-lose for AJ. Anything but an absolute demolition job by Joshua, and he’s an embarrassment. I actually would go as far to say that if AJ does anything but flatten Jake, then he should strongly consider retirement. Because even a half-cooked Tyson Fury (who won’t have had a fight for 2 years by the time him and AJ could finally meet) would destroy Jake Paul, I am of no doubt about that. If he was serious about it, it would be a massacre. If Jake gets one on Anthony, as can happen in boxing (I’ve seen DEJI get a shot in on FLOYD MAYWEATHER ffs) then he’ll celebrate like he’s beat Ali and Tyson combined (the peak Mike Tyson, not the old man that Jake himself “fought”). We could see AJ get a silly cut for example and it be in a stupid money grab fight that adds nothing to his legacy or career, as well as having his ego, pride and reputation destroyed.

AJ fighting TOMMY Fury even would get more credit than fighting the YouTuber. When he beats an active professional fighter, then I will give Jake Paul “the boxer” credit. We only have this freak show match-up as a possibility because of Gervonta Davis’ legal issues, and even that fight I thought would be a bit embarrassing, just look at the size difference ffs, it’s a freak show! Even as an exhibition I hated it, as much as it would’ve been great to see Jake Paul deleted from boxing by a guy 1/3 of his size. But the risk of a world level fighter in Davis’ being beat by Jake Paul, would’ve hurt boxing immensely as a sport, I think. Another lose-lose for anyone who doesn’t stand to make money from it.

If it wasn’t obvious already, I don’t like Jake Paul. But I am a human being. And I think we absolutely have to think of Jake Paul’s safety. The egomaniacal Paul is a cash-cow at the moment, somehow, and if he has his skull caved in by a recent HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD, then first of all, that’s going to be visually very ugly, and I’m not sure those images need to be seen around the world on any level of one human being suffering a significant amount of damage. I hope the committee sanctioning this WWE-style “fight” can sleep at night after Jake inevitably sleeps in a hospital for the night.

On the flip side, just imagine the damage to the sport of boxing IF by some act of Satan himself, that Jake gets anywhere near beating Joshua? Social media memes and embarrassments for life for AJ, and to the sport of boxing as a whole, those pictures going around the world, I’m not sure if the sport could recover. I genuinely think the damage to the professional sport of boxing would be irreparable. In this age of YouTuber boxing, the rise of the Misfits organisation (quite the ironic name by the way), I think the lines between boxing and “YouTuber boxing” are growing thinner by the day, yes the sport of boxing grows, but the ART of boxing as a sport, the level of the sport, I think dies a death when these “freak-show fights” become the norm.

I’m not saying I don’t applaud the business side of it, I’m not saying I don’t totally understand why people would rather watch a celebrity box, than a British title fight for example, but as a sport, I want to see competition of the highest order possible. And trust me I’ve watched some of these misfits shows, I have PAID MONEY to watch them, and after I PAID MONEY to watch the show main evented by Tommy Fury vs KSI, I made a vow that that would indeed by the very last time I spent money on any misfits show. It’s simply not for me, and I don’t feel it’s good for boxing as a whole. Business side maybe. Sporting integrity? Not one bit.

I’ve seen Joshua flatten people, I’ve seen him beat the great Vladimir Klitschko, I’ve seen him be in relatively competitive fights with Oleksandr Usyk, he was in a world title fight within the last 2 years… and now he’s fighting Logan Paul’s brother? Come on now… Logan did it right; had a go at boxing, got his money, got his name value upped, then went to WWE to do his thing with MUCH less risk. Jake seems intent on getting his name out there in the world of boxing, and I guess we should credit him that he’s able to even get in the conversation of a possible fight with ANTHONY JOSHUA, a testament to his and his team’s promotional and negotiation skills (and money), but if he gets hurt, I hope those involved can look themselves in the mirror. And if Joshua comes even slightly close to anything but a walkover win, I hope the AJ team, Eddie Hearn, his training team, can all feel they did the right thing still for Joshua himself.

Quite simply, and Eddie Hearn has said as much, this is a cash grab. Hearn will say it’s the biggest fight they can do right now, that it’s just a part of the longer-term plan, but I don’t care. Jake Paul is one thing, talking about being a 3x heavyweight champion or facing Tyson Fury next year is absolutely on another planet.

The sport of boxing is at stake in this fight, IF it indeed happens. But regardless of the result, if the bell rings to start the fight and it DOES actually happens, right there in that moment, the sport of boxing dies.

Josh.