Boxing Hall of Famer claims Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua is scripted
In a recent interview with Betway, International Boxing Hall of Famer Barry McGuigan said that he believes there is a clause in the contract for Anthony Joshua to ‘go easy’ on Jake Paul to avoid the YouTuber-turned-boxer from getting severely injured.
Joshua, a two-time unified heavyweight world champion and Olympic gold medalist, will square off against Paul after Paul’s previously scheduled bout against Gervonta “Tank” Davis was canceled.
The Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua fight card has officially been booked for Dec. 19 in Miami, Fla., and will be broadcast live on NetFlix.
Below are excerpts from the Barry McGuigan interview
I = Interviewer
BG = Barry McGuigan
I: There’s another heavyweight fight this month: Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul on December 19th in Miami. How will that fight go?
BG: It’s hard to believe they wouldn’t have signed some sort of caveat. Look at it coldly: how is Joshua being matched with this guy? Look at what Joshua did to Francis Ngannou—a giant of a man, built like a tank, who went 12 rounds with Tyson Fury, dropped him, gave him hell—and Joshua blasted him out in a couple of rounds.
Then you think: Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul. So, how is Jake Paul going to get through Joshua? It almost seems ridiculous—so ridiculous that it’s hard to believe there isn’t some agreement saying, “I won’t go flat out with you.”
I’m not saying that is the case—just that, looking at it, he could get badly hurt. Joshua is in a different league. Paul goes from fighting journeymen to fighting Anthony Joshua? What’s going on?
But does he really want to put his life on the line? Anthony Joshua hits a normal man on the street—he’d knock him cold. I’m not saying Jake Paul is “normal”, but he’s not a heavyweight. He’s more of a cruiserweight.
Look at his performances. It looked like Mike Tyson was just fooling around with him—and Tyson was 58 or so. And all the boxing people know what’s going to happen in December.
I don’t dislike anyone. Jake Paul’s a great character, has a massive fanbase, but if it’s all on the level, he runs the risk of getting badly hurt. That’s why it’s hard to believe there isn’t some undisclosed agreement.
Of course, they must have said something like, “I’ll ease off, I’ll miss with shots, I won’t load up.” Because if Joshua hits him clean once, in the right place, he could break his jaw, knock him out cold, put him in a bad state.
It becomes a freak show if that happens. Anyone with any sense knows that if Joshua hits him like he hit Francis Ngannou, he’ll knock him into next week. That’s what I can’t get my head around.
