Shakur Stevenson Gives Honest Take On Jake Paul

Jake Paul brought in some of the world's best lightweight boxers to spar with when preparing for his fight against Gervonta Davis, which was supposed to take place in the middle of November in Miami, Florida.

The most notable of these sparring partners was Shakur Stevenson, who is the WBC lightweight champion and has won world championships in three different weight classes to this point.

It's hard to imagine Paul could have found a better guy to mimic Tank than Shakur, given that they're a similar size and each is world-class.

However, Paul quickly had to pivot to much, much bigger sparring partners when the Daviss fight fell through, and he pivoted to fighting Anthony Joshua, which is taking place on December 19. But Shakur was still able to get a good idea of how Paul might fare against Joshua, given the time they spent together.

Shakur Stevenson Explains How Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua Could Play Out

Stevenson was the guest on a December 15 episode of The Ariel Helwani Show. After singing Paul's praises about how good a boxer he has become in a short amount of time, Shakur got brutally honest about Paul's upcoming bout against Joshua.

"Hell no," Stevenson said when Helwani asked whether he'd be betting on Jake Paul to beat Anthony Joshua, per an X post from Helwani. "Hell no. AJ is a boxer. There's no way AJ should let Jake win that fight. Like, I don't see how he will let Jake win.

MORE: Amir Khan Sends Chilling Warning To Jake Paul Ahead Of Anthony Joshua Fight

When Helwani asked what he thinks will happen in the bout, Shakur said, "I think AJ should get the win. I don't know how it's gonna happen. But if you got all of that weight on you, he should go out there and beat Jake. But I don't think [a loss] would be a knock on Jake's game. Jake, as long as he don't get knocked out, as long as he stay on his P's and Q's in there, I think he should be okay."

"If I was betting money on it, I would bet that he's not getting knocked out in one round... I can't tell you if he survives, but I think he survives the first round," Stevenson added. "I don't think [Paul will get knocked out in the first round]."

Shakur Stevenson reveals his training stint with Jake Paul was more eye-opening than he expected:

"I think Jake is better than people would even understand... I was impressed for sure. I was surprised. You could tell he had a good coach in his corner, who's telling him the right… pic.twitter.com/UjEZZj58qn
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) December 15, 2025

Stevenson doesn't seem to be giving Paul much of a shot in this bout against Joshua, which is how just about everybody else also feels.

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