Boxing

Ex-Heavyweight Champion Concerned Jake Paul Could Die Against Anthony Joshua

One former heavyweight boxing champion made a grim comment about Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua.
Grant Young|
Jake Paul watching Jutta Leerdam watching the race WC Single Distances on March 15, 2025.
Jake Paul watching Jutta Leerdam watching the race WC Single Distances on March 15, 2025. | IMAGO / Pro Shots

Anybody who understands the sport of boxing knows the risk that Jake Paul is signing up for by agreeing to fight Anthony Joshua, which is taking place on December 19 in Miami, Florida.

Any time a boxer steps into the ring, there's a chance their life could be forfeit. According to a 2009 American Medical Association report, there is a fatality rate in boxing of 0.13 deaths per 1,000 participants per year. And a 2019 article from CNN estimated that 13 people die from injuries sustained in a boxing match every year.

In 2025 alone, Nigerian boxer Gabriel Oluwasegun Olanrewaju died after collapsing in a heavyweight fight in April, and Irish boxer John Cooney died one week after a super featherweight fight in February because of an intracranial hemorrhage he sustained in the ring. These are just the two most widely reported deaths from boxing this year, and there are surely others.

And when it comes to dealing concussive blows, few in the world are more adept at this than Anthony Joshua. Take his terrifying knockout victory against Francis Ngannou in March 2024 as proof of that.

Ngannou is listed at 6'4" and 257 pounds. Jake Paul is listed at 6'1" and last fought at 200 pounds. That alone should raise some red flags.

Ex-Heavyweight Champion Suggests Anthony Joshua Could Kill Jake Paul in Ring

All of this suggests that Paul needs to be extremely careful when he steps into the ring against Joshua next month. In fact, former unified cruiserweight world champion and WBA heavyweight champion David Haye suggested Paul's life could be on the line in the bout, which was conveyed in an interview with Sky News.

"I hope we've got a referee in there who's quite compassionate because if Jake Paul is left up against the ropes with Anthony Joshua unloading on him, it could be the end for him. It could be his last day on earth," Haye said of Paul fighting Joshua.

For what it's worth, Louis Durkin, president of the Association of Ringside Physicians, doesn't think there are any unique safety concerns for this Paul vs. Joshua fight.

"If you look at the individual fighters, I don’t think it rises to the level of safety concern," Durkin was quoted as saying in the article. "Now whether (Paul) deserves a shot at Joshua is a different question. But I think that gets confused with the level of danger."

One can only hope that Durkin is correct with this assessment.

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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.