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Eddie Hearn insists Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight showdown with Jake Paul is a ‘real’ heavyweight fight.
Stunning reports emerged last week that the two-time heavyweight champion was close to agreeing a deal to take on the YouTuber-turned-boxer this Christmas. On Monday afternoon, it was announced that the pair would clash in a professional heavyweight fight on December 19 in Miami.
The contest will be staged over eight three-minute rounds, with both men set to don 10oz gloves. Joshua has been told he cannot weigh more than 245lbs for the controversial dust-up against Paul – who is a natural cruiserweight – but the Brit is expected to pocket £70million from the bout.
Just days after the announcement, promoter Hearn has finally broken his silence. “We think the fight is very straightforward. There’s a lot of people that are very excited about the thought of Anthony Joshua almost evaporating Jake Paul from the actual boxing world,” he began.
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“You have to admire the front of Jake Paul and the heart. You know, he’s had criticism about the level of opposition. Now he steps up to a whole new stratosphere. For us, they made the offer, of course, financially, it was huge. We were planning potentially a little eight-round runout later this year. And now the eight-round runout will be against Jake Paul for more money than we could have ever dreamed of.
“So, the serious stuff for us, as you heard from Turki Alalshikh, begins in 2026. But at the same time, this was really an offer we couldn’t refuse. And, it’s a massive event. And, as AJ said in his press conference press release, no mercy! You know, this ain’t no exhibition. This is a real heavyweight fight.”
Joshua has received a fair bit of stick since confirmation of the bout, but the Brit himself is seemingly using the dust-up to get some minutes under his belt before a return to the ring in February. Should ‘AJ’ win those two bouts, the 36-year-old then hopes to finally settle the score with Tyson Fury next summer.
