The Biggest Loser From The Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua Fight

Fourteen fights into his professional boxing career, Jake Paul finally suffered the knockout loss many fans have been waiting to see. However, Paul's stock arguably rose in defeat, and his bank account certainly increased, making the night a net positive for him.

Paul will not feel great for the next few months, but he mentioned his desire to take a hiatus regardless to support his fiancée, Jutta Leerdam, in the 2026 Winter Olympics. But aside from the brain damage, Paul's wounds are nothing time cannot heal.

The fight was a bigger detriment to another heavyweight who did not even compete. Lawrence Okolie, who joined Paul's camp to help him prepare for Joshua, is easily the biggest loser of the event.

It should be no surprise that Okolie willingly played an active role in Paul's fight camp. Aside from his compensation, nobody would've benefited more than Okolie had Paul done the impossible. Paul would have suddenly become the hottest commodity in boxing — even more than he is now — but Okolie would have also been virtually undeniable for a world title fight.

There are a lot of moving parts, and it is easy to speculate in hindsight. But either way, there is almost no scenario in which Paul's win would not have catapulted Okolie's career.

Lawrence Okolie is the biggest loser of Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua

Okolie was not an undeniable No. 1 contender by any means, but he is the top-ranked heavyweight in the WBC rankings after his second-round TKO of Ebenezer Tetteh. Oleksandr Usyk is clearly content to sit on his belts, and the entire division is simply in the firm grasp of Moses Itauma.

However, with the WBC's history of aggressively stripping champions and its crowning of Agit Kabayel as the interim heavyweight titleholder, Okolie was realistically within an arm's reach of a world title fight. As the organization's former bridgerweight champion, it would not have taken much for the WBC to deem him a mandatory title challenge for either Usyk or Kabayel.

Okolie is still the No. 1-ranked contender, but he no longer has any claim to existing in front of Joshua in the title picture. 'AJ' was already the much bigger star, and he just secured one of the biggest wins of his career in front of his largest audience.

Joshua is now "the guy who knocked out Jake Paul," which carries significant weight with both the die-hard audience and the casual fans who just wanted to see the former YouTuber concussed.

THE REF HAS SEEN ENOUGH!!!

ANTHONY JOSHUA GETS THE KO AGAINST JAKE PAUL IN ROUND 6! #JakeJoshua pic.twitter.com/m5Y2VJ8to3
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) December 20, 2025

Joshua never really left the title picture, but he is now firmly back in the mix. Perhaps he shouldn't be after knocking out an unranked cruiserweight, but this is the current state of boxing fans just have to accept.

Joshua, who already has two losses to Usyk, will not be fighting for the undisputed belt anytime soon. He could, however, re-enter that conversation with a win in his next fight, which will supposedly be against the un-retiring Tyson Fury.

Had Joshua lost to Paul, Okolie would have also been in play to steal the Fury fight. Fury has to fight someone in his return, and if Joshua desired another hiatus after an embarrassing defeat, Okolie would have been right at the top of the list.

The odds were always slim, but Okolie's odds of finding himself in a massive headlining bout would have increased tenfold had Joshua lost to Paul. That window is almost entirely shut now, and Okolie will return against begin 2026 against a Filip Hrgovic-like opponent on the undercard.

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