Jake Paul faces his toughest test to date when he takes on the 2012 Olympic gold medalist and former two-time unified world boxing champion Anthony Joshua on Dec. 19.
The two will clash inside the Kaseya Center in Miami in a sanctioned, professional heavyweight bout contested over 8, three-minute rounds with 10 ounce gloves. Not a lot of people are giving Paul much of a chance, but former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley believes “The Problem Child” has a shot.
“I mean, Jake has been lost his mind. Like, what’s new. He lost his mind when he fought me. He lost his mind when he fought Anderson [Silva], when he fought Nate [Diaz]. He lost his mind when he wanted to fight professionally and switched off from amateurs. It’s really kind of been his theme,” Woodley said on the Ariel Helwani Show.
“I feel like the only person that hurt him ever was me. The only person that he lost to (Tommy Fury) was somebody that actually boxed him, that actually took him serious, used the jab, moved around. And I feel like we’ve seen fights where Anthony didn’t do that, and we’ve seen fights where he did,” Woodley continued.
“Depending on what version of Anthony Joshua comes out depends on if Jake has what we’ll call a ‘chance.’ When you’re fighting, if you’ve got knockout power, you’ve got belief in yourself, you got some speed, some agility to move around, you always have a chance. We’ve seen crazier things happen.”
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Joshua last fought in September 2024, losing to Daniel Dubois via knockout in the fifth round. In his previous ring appearance, Joshua knocked out former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. Many analysts point to that bout when discussing Joshua versus Paul. Woodley believes it’s a faulty comparison.
“Francis Ngannou is a terrible comparison to ‘this happened to Francis.’ He’s not even built the same as Jake. I’d say Jake’s a little bit faster than him. He (Ngannou) has more power, but he’s slower in distributing that power,” Woodley said.
“I feel like Anthony took him a little big more serious just because he’s actually a bigger heavyweight with power. And I feel like he did everything to make sure Francis didn’t even get a chance to use it,” continued the former UFC champion.
“I don’t think this fight is even. I think that Anthony Joshua is a better boxer. I think he has more power, but I don’t think there’s no chance Jake can win,” Woodley added. “I feel like if Anthony doesn’t stop him in the first two rounds, I feel like he’s going to give Jake confidence and I think it’s going to be a decision.
“I’m going to be real. He’s a great boxer. He’s got good power. He was always like the little point guard that was a heavyweight. I don’t know why Jake wanted that fight. I don’t know what’s going through his head, but he’s always got something up his sleeve.”
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