One day before stepping in the ring in Las Vegas, Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul weighed in. And, to no one's surprise, Joshua is much heavier than Paul: Joshua, who plays in the heavyweight category and was required to lose a bit of weight, to be under 17st 7lb (111kg), weighs 17st 5lb (110kg). Meanwhile, Jake Paul, who has usually fought cruiserweight rivals, weighs 15st 7lb (98kg).
The weight difference is making many fans and experts predict that Joshua will win Paul, maybe even by KO. The decision for Paul to face a heavyweight was made at the last moment: he was originally set to fight Gervonta Davis on November 14, who weighs less than Paul, but the fight was scrapped when Davis was sued by his ex girlfriend over domestic abuse.
The fight with Joshua was made quickly: Anthony Joshua is a former former unified world heavyweight champion, holding the title twice between 2017 to 2019 and 2019 to 2021, and even though Joshua's last fight was a defeat to Daniel Dubois in June 2024, he is much more experienced than Paul, originally an influencer before joining boxing world seriously in 2020.
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In the weigh-in event for the media on Thursday, Paul and Joshua continued with their verbal hostilities when Joshua raised his first towards Paul to showcase their height difference, and when Paul said the same Joshua responded "don't touch me". When he walked away, Joshua made a throat-slitting gesture to Paul.
The main card, to start at 2:00 AM CET, 1.00 GMT of Saturday December 20 and broadcast on Netflix, also features a fight between Alycia Baumgardner vs. Leila Beaudoin for the WBO, IBF, and WBA female super-featherweight titles.