Boxing

Eddie Hearn Sends Anthony Joshua Retirement Message Before Jake Paul Fight

Eddie Hearn didn't mince words about the potential fallout from Anthony Joshua fighting Jake Paul.
Grant Young|
Eddie Hearn is seen during a press conference at The Glasshouse in Surfers Paradise on January 6, 2025.
Eddie Hearn is seen during a press conference at The Glasshouse in Surfers Paradise on January 6, 2025. | IMAGO / AAP

Very few people in the boxing world are giving Jake Paul any chance of beating Anthony Joshua when these two face off in Miami, Florida, on December 19.

Since Joshua has such a distinct size and experience disadvantage, anything less than him putting Paul's lights out within the first two rounds is probably going to be seen as a defeat for Joshua, regardless of whether he gets his hand raised.

In fact, Queensberry Promotions founder Frank Warren took this sentiment a step further by saying, "If [Joshua] looks bad against Jake Paul, when you consider the experience he has and what Jake Paul's got, then I think he should turn it in."

He later added, "It's a massive, massive step up for [Paul]; it's a massive step up. Fighting a natural heavyweight, a big guy, a two-time heavyweight world champion, Olympic gold medalist, all that, it's a massive, massive first step up, and he'll go in as a big underdog, a big, big underdog."

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Eddie Hearn Addresses Anthony Joshua Retiring If He Loses to Jake Paul

Of course, Warren has been a promotional rival for Joshua for his entire career, which makes this sentiment from him not surprising in the slightest. But Joshua's own promoter, Eddie Hearn, also sent a message that it may be Joshua's time to retire if he falters against Paul during a November 27 interview with ProBoxingFans.

"Yeah, I do," Hearn said with a smile when asked whether he stands by saying he and Joshua must retire if Jake wins next month. He then added, "I suppose so. S***, yeah. Look, I don't see a world where Jake Paul wins this fight. I know that boxing is boxing."

"I won't retire. AJ should retire if he loses," Hearn continued with a laugh. "I see AJ winning this fight with ease, comprehensively, destructively, violently. And I don't see a world where Jake Paul is competitive in the fight, let alone win the fight. But luckily, AJ is not preparing in a way that he just thinks it's a joke. He's preparing for Jake Paul like he's a world title contender."

"We should just slide through this guy, and bash him up, and beat him up, and we should do it early doors," Hearn concluded.

Hearn is surely hoping these words don't come back to haunt him come fight night.

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.