The former world heavyweight champion has been out of action since suffering a heavy knockout defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024. During the hiatus, Joshua was linked with several high-profile contests before eventually agreeing to face Paul in Miami this weekend.
The fight is scheduled for Friday night local time in Miami, but will take place in the early hours of Saturday morning for viewers in the United Kingdom. In the build-up, Joshua released a video on his YouTube channel featuring a series of interviews recorded over the past few weeks.
Reflecting on his time away from boxing, Joshua explained that every result carries a lesson. “I always say this: for every time you win, there’s a reason. For every time you lose, there’s a reason,” he said, describing the break as a necessary period of reflection and realignment.
“So why I pause is because when you lose, you tend to take a deeper look at yourself and take time to figure out what went wrong.
“I had to look at the reasons why I lost, and I said to myself ‘I think I need a bit of time’ because I predicted this moment in like 2018. Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot.
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“I was moving 100 miles an hour, inside training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing and for any man or any woman, at some stage, they probably need a bit of a reset.
“So it came to that stage, really, in 2025, where I was at the time and I thought, ‘you know, I probably need a year out of the game.”
“The question is, should Anthony Joshua fight Jake Paul? Who knows? But we’re going to do it anyway.”
The 36-year-old revealed that he had been planning on making a surprise return to action in Saudi Arabia, but the chance to take on Paul in a highly lucrative bout saw him change course.
“The plan was to take a year out of the game, come back with an understated fight, make a low-key entry back into the heavyweight division,” Joshua said.
“I was actually planning on fighting this weekend in Saudi Arabia. Plan was, go on, no media, no press conference and just walk out, have a fight and everyone like, ‘bro, where did this come from?’
“So now we’re fighting with Jake Paul in Miami, December 19. That’s why you’ve always got to stay ready because you never know what’s around the corner. Always stay ready.”
On paper, the fight is a huge mismatch with two-time heavyweight world champion Joshua taking on Paul, who hasn’t faced an opponent anywhere near the Brit’s calibre during his 13 professional bouts.
Joshua insists his focus is on the finer details of his own performance, rather than the expectation that he will claim a swift knockout victory.
