Anthony Joshua will not fight Jake Paul

Anthony Joshua has been linked with a fight against Jake Paul, largely because the latter has called him out and a lot of places online have decided to run with the story – including, clearly, our own.

Thankfully, we don’t think anyone needs to worry about the possibility of these two actually squaring off. Sure, Anthony Joshua would likely earn an incredible amount of money if he decided to go ahead with it, but the same is true for him going up against a lot of boxers – with Tyson Fury being located towards the top of that list.

While Paul may well be serious in his desire to lock horns with the heavyweight British boxing star, everything inside of us says that Anthony Joshua is far too smart to take on that kind of challenge. Firstly, it’s because there would be nothing in it for him other than financial gain, and that’s never been the sole focus of AJ’s career.

Anthony Joshua’s future

Secondly, he’s still a contender at heavyweight. Yes, Anthony Joshua fought Francis Ngannou, but that’s someone who had just taken Tyson Fury the distance – and looked good doing it. This wouldn’t be the same kind of fight because the difference in skill, and size, and experience, is so dramatic.

For Joshua, this is about figuring out what he wants from the rest of his career. If we assume that the answer isn’t to square off with someone like Jake Paul, then perhaps it all comes down to risk vs reward against some of the other top heavyweight names out there.

Anthony doesn’t have anything left to prove and if he decided to hang them up and retire, he’d be entirely justified in doing that. Alas, with the kind of power and precision he possesses, there’s always going to be room for more.