Anthony Joshua has already made his mind up about Jake Paul with three words

Following Paul’s victory over Anderson Silva three years ago, the American flew to Dubai for a well-earned break, where he ended up bumping into Joshua

Anthony Joshua was quick to make up his mind about Jake Paul following their first-ever encounter.

Paul has made huge waves in the sport of boxing since making his professional boxing debut back in 2020. The YouTuber-turned-boxer grabbed the headlines earlier this year after calling for a showdown with Joshua. The pair shared a brief phone call back in March and verbally agreed to a stunning showdown.

However, talks seemingly died down and it was not long before Paul was back in the ring. The 28-year-old took on former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr back in June in his first fight since defeating Mike Tyson in November 2024. Despite failing to get a knockout, Paul cruised to a decision victory over Chavez Jr.

Paul was due to take on lightweight star Gervonta Davis this Friday, but was forced to call off the fight after his opponent faced allegations of battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping from a former girlfriend. In a bid to stay active in the ring, the ‘Problem Child’ issued several call-outs of some of the biggest names in boxing, including Joshua. On Wednesday evening, the pair agreed to a heavyweight showdown next month in Miami.

December’s dust-up would not mark the first time the two stars have met face-to-face, though. Both men crossed paths in Dubai, shortly after Paul’s victory over UFC legend Anderson Silva three years ago, while ‘AJ’ was in the country for training and a well earned break from the sport.

Recalling the encounter, Joshua showed his class and was full of respect for Paul. In an interview with IFL TV, the two-time heavyweight champion said Paul is “good for boxing”. Joshua added: “He has no amateur background and just jumped straight in. He’s learning under pressure, and that will help him evolve quickly.”

Following his link-up with Paul, Joshua returned to the ring just months later, defeating Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London – his first win since suffering his second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. The Brit then stopped Robert Helenius, Otto Wallin and Francis Ngannou. The 36-year-old has not tasted victory since his win over the ex-UFC heavyweight champion last year.

Joshua has not fought since his knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024. The two-time heavyweight has been sidelined for the majority of 2025 due to injury. He underwent surgery on his elbow earlier this year, but is now back in training and could ramp up his daily regime after agreeing to a showdown with the YouTuber-turned-boxer.

The pair’s showdown could take place on either December 12 or December 19 – just six days before Christmas Day. While nothing has been confirmed, Paul’s business partner Nakisa Bidarian previously revealed that a potential showdown between the boxer and Joshua would be a professional heavyweight fight. “This would be pursued as a straight up professional fight. I think there’s certainly an experience gap between the two of them in terms of where they’re at in their career,” he said.

“From my prospective, Joshua’s an active heavyweight. The likelihood of Anthony Joshua being able to land a heavyweight punch is much higher than what Mike Tyson had. I want to give Jake as much time as possible to improve on his boxing skillset to be able to effectively neutralise that main attribute of Anthony Joshua. My ask of him is to wait longer to do it. But when an opportunity is there, sometimes if you don’t take it, it never comes back.”

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Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn seemingly echoed Bidarian’s comments after he insisted back in August that the only way a fight between both ‘AJ’ and Paul would happen is if it’s in a professional setting. In an interview with Ring Magazine, he said: “I hate exhibitions. If you’re going to be taken seriously, then you fight under Queensberry rules. And the reality is this [fight with Davis] is not boxing. It’s entertainment and I get it. I can’t sit here and say, ‘This is disgusting. It’s this or that.’ It’s just entertainment, but it’s not boxing, so we need to separate the two. Anything under the Queensberry rules, in a real fight, that’s boxing.

“This is just an entertainment format that’s just a freak show. And the one thing we said to Nakisa and those guys was, ‘Look, if you want a real fight, it’s real rules.’ I would never let AJ go in there with 14-ounce gloves or two-minute rounds or all this [expletive]. It’s a real fight.”

When is the next boxing fight?

Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn will go head-to-head this weekend. The 12-round middleweight rematch is scheduled to take place on Saturday, November 15. It will once again be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London. Official times are yet to be confirmed – but it is likely that the undercard will begin at around 5pm UK time.

In the main event, the ringwalks will likely take place at around 9:50pm UK time. The fight will be shown live and exclusively on DAZN pay-per-view.