Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua: heated words exchanged between YouTube star and British heavyweight before the fight | Boxing News

Jake Paul believes he is “more important” to boxing than Anthony Joshua and insisted sports fans should “want me to win” the fight in Miami.

The pair exchanged heated words at the final press conference ahead of the game in Miami early Saturday morning British time.

Joshua returns to the ring for the first time since his knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2025, and although he insisted this was not his “biggest payday”, Paul will be in his 14th boxing match following his points win over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June.

“This is Giants vs. Patriots in 2007,” Paul said. “I mean, the list goes on, the odds are stacked against me.

“No sports team in history has competed together with such vast differences in skill, experience, resume, height, weight, etc. So this is going to be the biggest upset in sports history, and you’re going to witness it.”

Joshua spoke about his sense of responsibility to represent boxing in defeating Paul in one of the most divisive and talked about crossover bouts in history.

“With[Francis]Ngannou, I remember he beat Tyson Fury in 10 rounds and somehow Fury got the decision,” Joshua said.

“When I fought Ngannou, I knew a lot of things were at play.

“In this fight, I feel like I’m being brought in to save the boxing purists because people don’t like me fighting Jake.

“When I see people who don’t want me to be here but want me to end ‘The Jake Paul Show,’ I understand that too, and that’s why I’m putting boxing on my back in this fight.”

YouTuber Paul defended himself by saying he has had more influence on boxing than anyone else in the past 10 years.

“No one has contributed more to the sport of boxing over the past 10 years than me,” Paul said.

“So if people care about boxing, they want me to win.

“But I can see where they’re coming from in the sense that he’s been doing that all his life.

“But I think I’m more important to boxing, so if they care about boxing, they want me to win.”

Is Joshua in danger of fighting Tyson Fury?

Promoter Frank Warren confirmed on Monday that Tyson Fury intends to come out of retirement for his long-awaited British fight against Joshua, targeted for next summer.

But Warren, who represents Fury, admitted that plans for a blockbuster fight would have to be forgotten if Joshua suffered a sensational loss to Paul.

“Well, if that happened, he wouldn’t fight Tyson Fury, that’s for sure,” Warren told Sky Sports.

“Jake Paul has fought 12 fights. He’s never fought at this level, he’s never fought at this weight at heavyweight, and he’s fighting a two-time world champion and former Olympic gold medalist who is still ranked in the top 10 despite his loss to Daniel Dubois and overall loss.

“He should have too much for Jake Paul. If he can’t beat Jake Paul, we shouldn’t even be talking about him fighting Tyson Fury.”

AJ needed a “career” reset

Joshua, 36, admitted he needed to take a break from the sport after falling short of his goal of becoming a three-time world champion following his fifth-round knockout loss to Dubois at Wembley.

“I had to think about why I lost, but I said to myself, ‘I need some time,’ because I was anticipating this moment back in 2018 or so. It wasn’t a loss, it was a lot of work that I was working on,” Joshua said on his YouTube channel.

“I was traveling 160 miles an hour, training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing, but at some point, whether you’re a man or a woman, you need to reset a little bit.

“So, we actually got to that stage in 2025. I was at that stage at the time thinking, ‘You know, I’m probably going to need to take a year off from the game.’

“The question is, should Anthony Joshua fight Jake Paul? Nobody knows. But we’re going to do it anyway.”