Joshua to fight YouTube star Paul on December 19

Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will fight YouTube star Jake Paul in a professional bout on December 19.

Britain’s Joshua, the 36-year-old former two-time unified heavyweight champion, will take on the YouTuber-turned-boxer at Kaseya Center in Miami.

The fight, which will be streamed live on Netflix, will consist of eight three-minute rounds.

The bout is a replacement fight for Paul, who was scheduled to take on Gervonta Davis in an exhibition earlier this month before it was cancelled because of a lawsuit filed against Davis by his ex-girlfriend.

“This isn’t an AI simulation. This is Judgment Day,” said 28-year-old Paul.

“When I beat Anthony Joshua, every doubt disappears, and no-one can deny me the opportunity to fight for a world title. To all my haters, this is what you wanted.”

Speculation that Joshua would fight Paul was initially denied, but he will return to the ring against the American for the first time since being knocked out by then-IBF champion Daniel Dubois in September 2024.

“I took some time out and I’m coming back with a mega show. It’s a big opportunity for me,” said the 2012 Olympic gold medallist.

“Whether you like it or not, I’m here to do massive numbers, have big fights and break every record whilst keeping cool, calm and collected.

“Mark my words, you’ll see a lot more fighters take these opportunities in the future. I’m about to break the internet over Jake Paul’s face.”

Paul became famous via a YouTube account that now has close to 21m subscribers.

However, in recent years he has switched his attention to boxing and has primarily fought as a cruiserweight at around 200lbs.

He weighed in at the heavyweight weight of 227.5lbs when he beat former world champion Mike Tyson in an exhibition fight in 2024 that attracted 108m viewers.

Paul then beat former world middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39, via a unanimous points decision, a victory that earned him the number 14 spot in the WBA cruiserweight rankings.

But Paul – who has a 12-1 win-loss record, with seven knockouts – has only boxed a total of 70 rounds since turning professional in 2020.

Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) by contrast, has 12 years of experience as a professional and has boxed more than 160 rounds.

“It’s an incredible day,” Nakisa Bidarian, CEO of Most Valuable Promotions, told Sky Sports.

“Jake thought of this in March of this year and said, ‘I want to fight Anthony Joshua’.

“People laughed then. In July the question was asked, ‘do you see this happening?’ – and the plan was to do this in March or April of 2026. Plans changed and Jake stood up and said, ‘I want to face Joshua now’.” (BBC)