Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul are in talks over a blockbuster fight and Tyson Fury has backed the YouTube star to defeat the two-time heavyweight world champion
Tyson Fury has boldly claimed Jake Paul will beat Anthony Joshua if they ever fight, with the Gypsy King ready to bet £1million on the American. Paul has a 12-1 record as a boxer and most recently beat former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last month.
Joshua, meanwhile, has not fought since he was stopped by Daniel Dubois in September 2024. Paul called out the Brit in March, with the 28-year-old claiming he would “f***ing beat Anthony Joshua’s ass”.
A meeting in 2026 was teased and Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, recently confirmed that there have been talks about making the fight happen. And Fury has now delivered his verdict on the clash, backing Paul to upset Joshua.
“Jake Paul chins AJ, yes,” Fury said in an interview with iFL TV. “100 percent. If they fight, I’m putting a million pounds on Jake Paul.”
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And when Fury’s comments were put to Paul, the YouTuber told iFL TV : “He’s a smart guy. He sees what I see which is a weakness in somebody that has been fighting a bit too long. People underestimate me and doubt me and that’s what they’ve done their whole career.
“But that’s why I want the fight – I want to prove the world wrong. It’s gonna happen, it’s not even about it being realistic. Meeting with Turki (Al-Sheikh), talking with Turki upstairs, negotiating live here today, it’s gonna happen.”
Hearn, though, has previously branded the clash a “catastrophic mismatch” and claimed it “shouldn’t really happen”. He told talkSPORT earlier this year: “He’s calling out Anthony Joshua, who is a heavyweight monster.
“I think Jake Paul is crazy enough to fight Anthony Joshua because the money would be absolutely obscene. It’s a catastrophic mismatch that people would tune in to watch, because it would be the end of Jake Paul. It’s that dangerous.
“It’s a fight that shouldn’t really happen. They’re very clever in terms of the opponents they pick. It wouldn’t be surprising if Jake Paul wanted to move forward with an Anthony Joshua fight. Would he [Joshua] go in there and give him a hiding for a massive chunk of money?
“Probably. I’d be saying, ‘Yeah, go on. I’d like to see. Is he [Jake] world-class? Absolutely not, but he is improving. He’s a lot better than a lot of fighters out there.”
