Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua called Jake Paul after the YouTube star called him out for a fight and a potential clash in 2026 is now being teased by the pair
Anthony Joshua has teased a fight with YouTube star Jake Paul after he called out the two-time world heavyweight champion. Joshua phoned Paul in response to his call-out, with the 28-year-old claiming he could “f***ing beat Anthony Joshua’s ass”.
Paul has not fought since he outpointed a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in November and he has since seen two potential bouts fall through. Paul was close to agreeing a deal to fight Canelo Alvarez, but the Mexican superstar ended up signing a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season instead.
Paul was also in talks to face unbeaten lightweight champion Gervonta Davis, but that fell through after Tank drew with Lamont Roach in his last fight and a rematch is expected. As a result, Paul has now turned his attention to Joshua.
“I want to fight Anthony Joshua because I know I will f***ing beat Anthony Joshua’s ass,” he said on his YouTube show BS with Jake Paul. “He doesn’t have a chin and he has no skill and he’s stiff.
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“I love you, Anthony, we’re friends and all this s*** but I want to fight you. I will beat Canelo, I will beat a lot of f***ing people.”
Joshua responded by ringing up Paul and both fighters posted images of the phone call with the caption 2026, teasing a potential clash sometime next year. AJ has not fought since his loss to Daniel Dubois last September.
The 35-year-old was expected to fight Tyson Fury this year, but the Gypsy King announced his retirement from boxing after he lost his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk in December.
It is not the first time a fight between Paul and Joshua has been mooted, with the YouTuber’s promoter Nakisa Bidarian opening the door to a potential showdown back in November.
“Jake’s feedback to me was I want to do that fight,” Bidarian told Sky Sports. “Not now. But I want to do that fight. To be a world champion at cruiserweight, he wants to do that.
“The other is to test the limits of expectations. Test the limits of what’s possible. This event with Mike Tyson, that tested the limits of what was possible for the world to see and him fighting Anthony Joshua or Daniel Dubois is kind of the same thing.
“Jake weighed in at 227lbs but really he walks around at 215. But he’ll do it for the right environment, the right framework. It isn’t about the money.
“He’s made lots of money from the time he was 18 years old. It’s really about disruption. It’s really about doing things that make you say: ‘Wow, that really happened.’ That’s what excites us.”
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