Eddie Hearn provides shocking Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul update after
Eddie Hearn claims Turki Alalshikh is open to staging Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul.
Alalshikh recently held a shock meeting with Paul in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where, amongst other things, they discussed business.
The pair haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, but they look set to put their differences to one side for the betterment of the sport.
Paul is on the hunt for his next opponent after overcoming former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr last month and is chasing a fight with Joshua.
Paul vowed to knock out the former unified heavyweight champion during a ballsy rant on his podcast earlier this year.
And soon after, the ex-Disney star received a phone call from AJ, where they verbally agreed to fight in 2026.
Joshua still has business to tend to with the divisional elite. Chiefly, a long-awaited all-British showdown with Tyson Fury.
But once the domestic dust-up is in the books, a fight with Paul is looking increasingly more likely now that Saudi powerbroker Alalshikh has expressed interest in the crossover clash.
“Yeah [there have been discussions], I was with His Excellency yesterday, obviously he’d met Jake Paul,” Hearn told Pro Boxing Fans.
“I think he would like to do it, you know, but it’s mad enough to happen.
“It’s not something we expected, it’s not something we’re targeting.
“If it’s offered to us, I would be shocked if AJ didn’t accept it. Why wouldn’t you?
“The plan for us is to fight Tyson Fury next year, if we can squeeze in Jake Paul along the way, and you guys want AJ to end this whole process, he’ll gladly do it.”
Paul has had a difficult time tying down fights as of late.
An agreement to face WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis in an exhibition came desperately close to being signed.
However, those plans were derailed when Lamont Roach held Davis to a draw in March.
Before entering into discussions with ‘Tank’, Paul saw another fight with undisputed super middleweight king Canelo Alvarez fall by the wayside as well.
Ironically, it was Alalshikh who essentially sabotaged the fight by offering the Mexican superstar a lucrative four-fight deal with Riyadh Season at the eleventh hour.
