Featured Image Credit: Megan Briggs / Getty Images for Netflix
A former world heavyweight champion has shared an interesting prediction for the upcoming Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua fight ahead of it airing on Netflix.
As a noted YouTuber and controversial creator, Paul is set to go head-to-head against Joshua, a former heavyweight champion. The fight will take place tomorrow (December 19) in Miami, Florida.
This comes just over a year after Jake “The Problem Child” Paul went head-to-head against boxing legend Mike “Iron Mike” Tyson.
The highly anticipated fight at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was watched in person by 80,000 fans, with 65 million more streaming the action live on Netflix.
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While Paul failed to knock out Tyson, he still came out on top, and the pair reportedly pocketed $20 million each.
All three judges scored the fight for Paul, 80-72, 79-73, and 79-73.
According to Netflix, the 27-year-old landed 78 punches from 278 thrown (28%), while Tyson landed just 18 punches from 97 thrown.
Since the fight, there had been much speculation over who Paul would face next, with many names being thrown into the mix, including Mexican fighter Canelo Álvarez.
Speaking to the New York Post after his win against Tyson, Paul said: “There’s a lot of names. I think Gervonta [Davis], Canelo, Tommy Fury, KSI, I want Anthony Joshua.
“The list goes on and on and on and then my main goal is to become world champion and we’ll see who that is and what point in time I make that happen.”
Now, Paul is set to face Joshua tomorrow at the Kaseya Center and another former champion has weighed in with his own thoughts on the upcoming event.
Speaking to AceOdds, former world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder shared his predictions for the fight, saying: “To be fair, I really just never just examined him [Paul]. I just saw some of the matches and stuff like that, and I heard certain people that have been in gyms say he actually trains. If he dedicates himself and actually trains and puts that time in, man, my hat goes off to him.
“Salute to that because it takes a lot to get in that ring and to sacrifice your life, no matter what, because the head is not meant to be hit in the first place.
“I have heard that he actually takes training seriously. That is a great thing and it ain't just, ‘oh, I'm just going to pick a name and we just gonna fight and we're just halfway training’ and, you know, trying to make a mockery of the business.”
He continued: “I haven't really just sat back and assessed him on his skills or nothing like that. Just being a fan of boxing and just watching the entertainment of guys trying to hit each other - that's as far as I've gotten. I guess because of having the mindset of you knowing that this is an exhibition, this is not the basic design of how a boxing match would go.”
As we learned from Paul vs. Tyson, it really could be anyone's game.
