The Jake Paul boxing experiment enters its most ambitious chapter on December 19, when the YouTube sensation steps into the ring against Anthony Joshua at Miami’s Kaseya Center. Former two-division boxing champion Paulie Malignaggi offers a perspective that carries particular weight coming from someone who has competed against elite fighters and commentated extensively on Joshua’s performances. His assessment of this mismatch is as direct as it is damning for Paul’s prospects.
“He Won’t Let Himself Be Clowned”: What a Former Champion Sees in Anthony Joshua vs. Jake Paul
Speaking in an interview with The Schmo, Malignaggi explained:
“I mean, this isn’t 60-year-old Mike Tyson. This is 35, 36-year-old Anthony Joshua who’s still relatively dangerous.”
“In the Dubois fight he almost knocked Dubois out before being knocked out himself. Joshua has still been competitive at a very high level. He hasn’t been active, but I wouldn’t consider him shot at all. And even a shot AJ would still likely beat a Jake Paul in my eyes.
“The thing about AJ is he’s a rather serious guy. This is not Chávez Jr. He takes anything he does very seriously. He’s got a backbone to him, he’s got a character to him. He’s not going to let himself be clowned by allowing Jake to survive, allowing Jake to play around, or allowing Jake to make him look bad. He’s going in there to knock him out, and anything less is going to be a disappointment to him.”
Joshua’s track record supports this evaluation. In March 2024, Joshua faced Francis Ngannou and dispensed with the former UFC heavyweight champion in devastating fashion, scoring a second-round knockout that left Ngannou unconscious on the canvas.
That said, Joshua suffered a fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, a setback that raised questions about his current standing. However, the nature of that defeat provides context rather than definitive evidence of decline. Joshua was competitive in the early exchanges and nearly hurt Dubois before being caught with a counter. The fight represented a competitive heavyweight clash between two capable fighters, not one-sided dominance.
Joshua’s professional demeanor and serious nature suggest he views this opportunity through a different lens than other celebrity boxing endeavors. The former champion carries himself with a certain dignity about the sport and doesn’t seek to be part of spectacle for spectacle’s sake. This disposition would manifest in the ring through genuine effort and knockout intent rather than entertainment theater.
On the specific matchup dynamics, Malignaggi left no ambiguity about the Ngannou reference point. He noted:
“So does he knock him out? Yeah, he knocked out Ngannou, right, and I think most people would say Ngannou is better than Jake. He cut through Ngannou like it was nothing, like a hot knife through butter. I’d expect nothing less here.
“You give Jake some credit for having the balls to do it, but then again he’s doing what we all used to joke about as kids: ‘For a million dollars I’d get in the ring with Mike Tyson.’ Well, for 90 million, Jake, you get in the ring with AJ. Is it bravery or is it, ‘You give me enough money, I’ll do it’?”
Paul arrives at this fight with a professional boxing record spanning roughly five years. His experience consists primarily of contests against mixed martial arts fighters transitioning to boxing or celebrities with limited combat sports background. Anderson Silva, Ben Askren, and Tyron Woodley represented elevated opposition compared to earlier ventures, yet none operate at the heavyweight championship level. His singular loss came via split decision to Tommy Fury in February 2023, the only active professional boxer of note on his resume.
Joshua, conversely, remains one of the sport’s most accomplished heavyweight fighters of the modern era. He held world titles, defeated elite opposition including Wladimir Klitschko, and conducted much of his career at the absolute highest competitive level. The experience gap between these two fighters remains substantial regardless of Joshua’s recent results.
