Paul is a social media star who has transitioned into being a professional boxer. He’s beaten former UFC fighters, and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, among others and boxed an aged Mike Tyson in an unlikely but unignorable event.
But Anthony Joshua, unlike cruiserweight Paul, is a large heavyweight with tremendous power and unimpeachable accolades. An Olympic gold medallist in 2012, he’s twice unified heavyweight world championships.
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But Paul not only made their December 19 fight, those closest to him insist he has planned for it and intends to win it.
Nakisa Bidarian, who co-founded promotion company Most Valuable Promotions alongside Paul, told Sky Sports News: “The fight is called Jake versus Joshua and I very much expect Jake to come out the victor.
“Does he go in there with the risk of getting knocked out? Absolutely. That’s what boxing is about and Anthony Joshua is one of the biggest boxers, biggest punchers, most devastating knockout artists that exist.
“But Jake’s been predicting this since March of this year. He’s been planning for this this entire time.”
As part of his preparations Paul has brought in elite sparring partners, including former cruiserweight champion and now top heavyweight contender Lawrence Okolie.
“What you can count on is Jake is spending every minute of every day focused on how to beat Anthony Joshua,” Bidarian insisted.
“He has a personally-built gym focused on boxing. He has the best trainers in the world and we consistently have the best sparring partners for him in the world.”
Bidarian does not consider it guaranteed that Anthony Joshua will knock Paul out.
“If this fight goes to eight rounds and a decision and people start to say: ‘Oh this must have been something that was fixed’ that just tells you how unbelievable it is in terms of the things that he’s achieving,” the promoter said.
“If he gets knocked out, will people still say that it was fixed? No. Then they have to respect the fact that this guy got into the ring with someone of AJ’s experience level and knockout power just 13 fights into his career.”
