Jake Paul Fight Opponent Announcement Has Boxing Fans Predicting A Knockout

As soon as news broke that Jake Paul's scheduled exhibition bout against Gervonta "Tank" Davis (which was supposed to take place in Miami, Florida, on November 15) was cancelled, Paul's MVP Promotions made it clear that he intended to still fight on a Netflix card in 2025.

Soon after this, reports began surfacing that Paul's team had reached out to several prominent active boxers in order to step in to replace Davis. Among these were Ryan Garcia, Terence Crawford, Francis Ngannou, and Anthony Joshua.

Joshua (who is an Olympic gold medalist and former heavyweight world champion) was a fascinating option, if only because these two have been circling each other for some time. In fact, Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn admitted a fight against Paul was inevitable during an August 20 interview with The Stomping Ground.

"Look, if we take this [Paul vs. Joshua] fight, it's a real fight. We're not going in there as an exhibition or a YouTube match. AJ is gonna prepare like he's fighting a world champion. And he's gonna go in, and he's gonna demolish him. And we're gonna move on," Hearn said in the interview.

"But the only thing that can stop this fight from happening right now is Jake Paul, all of a sudden, not wanting to do it, or not fancying it. That's the only thing. Otherwise, this fight is happening."

Hearn was right about that last comment, as Ring Magazine's X account broke news on November 12 that Joshua and Paul are finalizing a deal to fight on Netflix in December in Miami.

‼️ Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul are finalizing a deal for a heavyweight fight on Netflix in December in Miami, sources tell The Ring’s Mike Coppinger.

Paul steps up to fight the former heavyweight champion after his exhibition with Gervonta Davis was cancelled. pic.twitter.com/TEVZUAk3m9
— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) November 12, 2025

Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua Fight Announcement Has Fans Saying Same Thing

Regardless of how boxing fans feel about Paul, they have to respect him for taking this challenge on such short notice. But that isn't keeping fans from predicting that Joshua will put his lights out, which they're saying on social media.

"If that’s anything other than a brutal AJ KO in round 1 then the whole thing is rigged," wrote @Arron_Whi.

"Lmao Anthony Joshua TKO first round. Stop it Jake," added @LightHouseHoops.

@iamdannycfc added, "Anything other than a 2nd round ko max then it’s rigged".

Another fan posted a GIF of iconic Rocky Ivan Drago saying, "If he dies, he dies".