Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua will square off in a strange fight tonight, pitting a YouTuber-turned-boxer against a former two-time world heavyweight champion.<\/p>\n
Joshua is the latter, to avoid any confusion, with the Briton entering Friday\u2019s fight in Miami as a huge favourite. \u201cAJ\u201d holds standout victories over the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Kubrat Pulev, Dillian Whyte and Alexander Povetkin. However, the 36-year-old is entering this bout, which streams live on Netflix, on the back of a brutal stoppage loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Paul comes into this contest \u2013 a professional bout, with knockouts allowed and standard 10oz gloves in use \u2013 with a 12-1 pro record. The American, 28, last fought in June and outpointed former world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, following a decision win over heavyweight legend Mike Tyson last November.<\/p>\n
Tyson was 58 at the time, with the fight proving controversial to fans and pundits but lucrative to the boxers; Paul reportedly took home $40m and Tyson $20m.<\/p>\n
Now, Paul and Joshua will seemingly clear even Paul\u2019s payday from that bout \u2013 and by some distance.<\/p>\n
Last November, Jake Paul (right) beat heavyweight legend Mike Tyson (Getty)In the days leading up to the confirmation of this bout in November, the Daily Mail reported, \u201cSources tell us that a gargantuan prize pot of around \u00a3140m [$184m] has been mooted,\u201d seemingly to be split evenly between Joshua and Paul. However, Paul later took to X (formerly Twitter) with a different figure, seemingly referencing the fight purse.<\/p>\n
Several days after the Mail\u2019s report was published, Paul tweeted: \u201cStop asking me. $267 Million.\u201d That works out at approximately \u00a3200m.<\/p>\n
Sports and entertainment accountant Oriana Morrison told The Independent on Tuesday: \u201cEven if the lower figure \u2013 the rumoured $184m purse \u2013 is true, AJ could bring home $92m [\u00a370m]. We haven\u2019t seen a boxing match with a purse at this level since Mayweather vs Pacquiao in 2015 or even Mayweather vs McGregor in 2017. It\u2019s higher than any Saudi purse to date.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anthony Joshua has been in the lead-up to his fight with Paul (Getty)Morrison, who was referencing Floyd Mayweather\u2019s bouts with Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor, continued: \u201cThe US never really got the chance to savour Anthony Joshua\u2019s talent and charisma. This is the perfect setting for this fight and definitely a turning point for boxing in the US. <\/p>\n
\u201cMVP [Most Valuable Promotions, Paul\u2019s company] and Jake Paul are dragging new audiences into boxing. They\u2019re forcing boxing to modernise its promotion and pay fighters better than established promoters.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua will square off in a strange fight tonight, pitting a YouTuber-turned-boxer against a former two-time world heavyweight champion. Joshua is the latter, to avoid any confusion, with the Briton entering Friday\u2019s fight in Miami as a huge favourite. \u201cAJ\u201d holds standout victories over the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n