Anthony Joshua Set To Face Jake Paul In December Heavyweight Bout

Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul are finalizing a woody to meet successful a heavyweight conflict successful Miami this December, sources told nan Guardian, pinch Netflix preparing to denote nan bout connected Monday. A root pinch knowledge of nan negotiations said nan woody is done and that nan conflict will return spot connected either 19 aliases 26 December.

Paul had primitively been scheduled to conflict Gervonta Davis connected 14 November astatine nan Kaseya Center, but nan arena was cancelled aft Davis was removed from nan paper amid home unit allegations. Davis’s erstwhile partner, Courtney Rossel, revenge a civilian suit successful Miami-Dade County accusing nan lightweight champion of battery, aggravated battery, mendacious imprisonment, kidnapping and intentional infliction of affectional distress. Miami Gardens constabulary confirmed they are investigating nan alleged incident, which Rossel says occurred astatine nan portion nine wherever she works. She was granted a restraining bid soon afterwards.

Most Valuable Promotions, Paul’s company, and Netflix scrapped nan show soon aft nan suit became public. “Our squad has worked intimately pinch each parties to navigate this business responsibly,” Nakisa Bidarian, MVP’s main executive, said astatine nan time. “While we will not beryllium moving guardant pinch this event, our scheme still remains for Jake Paul to header an arena connected Netflix successful 2025.”

Paul responded by publicly lambasting Davis connected X, calling him “an existent stepping quality portion of garbage” and apologizing to undercard fighters and unit affected by nan cancellation.

After Davis’s withdrawal, Paul’s squad explored different opponents, including Ryan Garcia and undisputed ace middleweight champion Terence Crawford. Talks past accelerated pinch Joshua, nan erstwhile two-time unified heavyweight champion, who has not fought since being stopped by Daniel Dubois successful September 2024.

Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, had said nan 36-year-old hoped to return earlier nan extremity of nan year, pinch early 2026 besides possible. A December conflict pinch Paul would people Joshua’s first quality successful much than 15 months and gives Netflix, whose boxing telecasts person included Paul’s conflict pinch Mike Tyson and Crawford’s showdown pinch Canelo Álvarez, a marquee replacement for nan scrapped Davis bout.

A root acquainted pinch nan woody said Netflix expects to fastener successful nan nonstop day earlier Monday’s announcement. The conflict is expected to return spot successful Miami and watercourse globally connected nan platform.

Netflix’s first boxing show – Paul’s bout pinch Tyson – became nan most-streamed sporting arena successful history, peaking astatine 65m unrecorded concurrent streams and drafting an estimated 108m mean unrecorded viewers worldwide, nan institution said in a property release. The broadcast accounted for 56% of each US tv viewing during nan fight’s main arena hr and was nan platform’s No 1 title that week crossed 78 countries.