Next week, Jake Paul goes toe-to-toe with Anthony Joshua in an ambitious attempt to announce himself as a threat to the heavyweight throne. Now, reigning unified champion of the division, Oleksandr Usyk, has revealed his thoughts ahead of the event.
Paul has fought at heavyweight only once, outpointing a 58-year-old Mike Tyson, who had undergone almost two decades of professional inactivity prior, in a clash that was fought over eight two-minute rounds with both men wearing 14-ounce gloves.
Now, Paul has accepted a more genuine and threatening heavyweight affair, as he takes on two-time champion Joshua, who challenged for the heavyweight title only last year. The upcoming fight is a genuine professional contest with standard rules and regulations barring a weight limit of 245lbs for Joshua.
As a result, ‘The Problem Child’ is poised to enter the ring as a monumental underdog, with an upset victory for the American comparable to the legendary triumph of Buster Douglas, who famously dethroned Tyson in 1990.
Speaking with All The Smoke Fight, Usyk was asked if there was any chance of Paul beating Joshua, to which the Ukrainian responded with disbelief.
“What?! [Ask me that] again please!”
Whilst Usyk seems uninterested in a boxing match with Paul at present, the Ukrainian has recently revealed his willingness to take on the YouTuber-turned-boxer in an MMA fight, if he survives against ‘AJ’.
“If Anthony Joshua wants, he can kill this guy. I will pray [for] Jake Paul because I want to fight Jake Paul in the Octagon.”
