Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has given his verdict on the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua showdown \u2014 and the Ukrainian didn\u2019t sugarcoat his thoughts.<\/p>\n
Jake Paul and Joshua are set to meet in an eight-round professional bout airing live on Netflix. The fight was arranged quickly after Paul\u2019s scheduled clash with WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis collapsed.<\/p>\n
Paul pulled out of the Davis fight following domestic violence allegations against the American star, leading to a rapid search for a new opponent. In a surprising twist, former two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua stepped in.<\/p>\n
Usyk to Work With Joshua Ahead of the Paul Fight<\/p>\n
While Paul must now prepare for a drastically different challenge in Joshua, \u2018AJ\u2019 has had changes of his own. Ahead of his first bout in 15 months, Joshua revealed he has parted ways with coach Ben Davison and will instead link up with Usyk\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Joshua has fought Usyk twice \u2014 in 2021 and 2022 \u2014 losing both times. But as he gears up for his comeback, he\u2019s turning to the unbeaten Ukrainian technician, who has remained untouchable in 24 professional fights.<\/p>\n
Although Usyk and Joshua haven\u2019t yet sparred, the unified champion has already faced media questions about the upcoming bout.<\/p>\n
Usyk\u2019s Candid Take on Paul vs. Joshua<\/p>\n
Speaking to Boxing King Media, Usyk initially played coy, claiming he wasn\u2019t sure who would win the eight-round matchup. But he quickly dropped the mask and delivered a blunt assessment.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Rolls-Royce cannot compete with a Fiat,\u201d Usyk said. \u201cAnthony Joshua is the Rolls-Royce. Jake Paul is the Fiat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua represents a massive step up for Paul. The Brit is one of the top heavyweights of his era, boasts a major size advantage, and has far more experience. Paul, a natural cruiserweight, has only fought one heavyweight \u2014 his exhibition-style bout with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson last year.<\/p>\n
Despite Paul\u2019s respectable record of 12 wins from 13 fights, none of his opponents come close to Joshua\u2019s calibre. Joshua, who normally weighs around 260 pounds, is cutting down to the 245-pound limit, whereas Paul has to bulk up after preparing for a lightweight opponent.<\/p>\n
Even so, plenty still believe Paul has an upset in him. One of them is former heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who says he\u2019s backing the YouTuber-turned-boxer with a huge wager.<\/p>\n
\u201cJake Paul knocks AJ out \u2014 100 percent,\u201d Fury insisted. \u201cIf they fight, I\u2019m putting a million pounds on Jake Paul. AJ is a spent force, and Jake Paul is on the rise. I like his new heavyweight look \u2014 a bit chubby, a bit bulky. He\u2019s getting there.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has given his verdict on the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua showdown \u2014 and the Ukrainian didn\u2019t sugarcoat his thoughts. Jake Paul and Joshua are set to meet in an eight-round professional bout airing live on Netflix. The fight was arranged quickly after Paul\u2019s scheduled clash with WBA lightweight champion …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":56124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/screenshot-2025-07-19-at-5-42-32-pm.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56123"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56125,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56123\/revisions\/56125"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}