BOXING: Fame and followers to the forefront as Paul faces Joshua

Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua will bring another year of seismic shifts in boxing to an end in Miami on Friday night in a mismatch that illustrates how much the sport has changed, with online fame now almost as important as punching power.

YouTuber-turned-pugilist Paul, who is stepping up from cruiserweight, takes on the former heavyweight champ seeking to burnish his reputation against the 36-year-old Briton, who was knocked down four times as he lost his most recent fight, an IBF heavyweight title bout with Daniel Dubois in September 2024.

"You know, it's boxing, boxing skill, boxing on the outside. He's obviously going to come forward, bring the pressure, be the bigger man. And it's just being slick, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," Paul said, channelling former boxing great Muhammad Ali.

While Ali took on a few odd-but-lucrative engagements in his time, such as a mixed-rules fight with professional wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976, he would hardly recognise boxing's new world, even if money is still the main motivator.

Joshua, whose career began an alarming slide after he lost his four heavyweight belts to Andy Ruiz in a shocking upset in 2019, has been promised a reputed $50 million plus bonuses for the fight, which will be shown on streaming platform Netflix.

The Netflix audience brings together die-hard boxing fans who will be eager to see what Joshua has left in the tank, and youthful admirers of Paul, with the former hoping Joshua wins convincingly.

"I heard people say like, 'oh, I'm not really into boxing, but I'm watching this fight'," Joshua told a press conference on Wednesday. "But no one's really coming up to me saying anything about Jake, or they want me to knock him out. Just positive vibes."

BIZARRE FIGHT

Leveraging his fame, Paul's path in boxing has taken him through former basketball player Nate Robinson and retired MMA fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, as well as a bizarre fight with a 57-year-old Mike Tyson.

However, Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin, who retired on his stool when he fought Joshua in Riyadh two years ago, told Reuters that Joshua possesses the kind of power that could see Paul get seriously hurt in the fight.

"When you're in that ring, it's a dangerous place to be, and anything can happen," Joshua said ominously. "You hope your opponent leaves the ring safely, but if they don't, you know, you still have to go to bed and knowing that you've just done your job."

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Paul still believes that he belongs in the ring with a boxer light-years ahead of him in terms of reputation and skill.

"I believe he (Joshua) is locked in and knows that this could potentially be the biggest loss, and will be the big loss of his career, and he has so much to lose in this fight," Paul said.