David Haye has warned no special rules with save Jake Paul from being brutally knocked out by Anthony Joshua, insisting a quick finish is the best ‘The Problem Child’ can hope for.
Joshua and Paul are in talks to meet in a blockbuster heavyweight showdown in Miami in December live on Netflix with a deal being ‘finalised’ on Wednesday. While Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has stressed there is still work to do, the fight promises to be one of the biggest events of the year if given the green light.
Paul has become one of boxing’s biggest names despite a lack of credible opponents on his record. Paul has won 12 of his 13 professional bouts, most of those coming against retired MMA fighters with his most high-profile win coming over a 59-year-old Mike Tyson last year. The American’s only defeat came against another relative novice in Tommy Fury – a fighter known more for his stint on Love Island than his in-ring prowess.
Joshua, one of the most fearsome fighters of his generation and a two-time heavyweight champion, is an entirely different prospect.
‘It is a very easy fight for AJ in regards to the other options on the table,’ Haye told Metro, speaking as a brand ambassador for HighBet.
‘This isn’t Tyson Fury, this isn’t even Francis Ngannou, this is a cruiserweight who has had 13 fights, losing one to Tommy Fury.
‘AJ is an amateur champion, an Olympic gold medallist, a two-time heavyweight champion of the world. This is a completely different proposition for Jake Paul and I give him absolutely no shot if this fight is made.
‘Even if the rounds are two minutes long, whatever the rules are, if ‘AJ’ is allowed to punch him in the head, the fight goes as long as AJ wants it too.’
Plenty have already expressed concern for Paul’s well-being should the fight go ahead as planned with Joshua carrying concussive power in both hands. Former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou learned that the hard way when he stepped up to fight Joshua in March 2024, almost immediately knocked out in savage fashion by the former champion. Haye believes a quick, albeit brutal, finish is the best Paul can hope for, something that might just spare him any lasting damage.
‘Boxing is a very tough sport at any level,’ Haye said. ‘You have to have to be careful for your health, you cannot be treating it as a place to learn some lessons when you are coming up against someone as dynamic and powerful as Anthony Joshua.
‘The fight will be sanctioned I’m sure because everyone will earn millions. Paul’s best bet is Joshua punches him so hard and ends it early.
‘I think the chances of Jake Paul getting badly inured are slim because injuries tend to happen when you are taking a consistent and continued beating, when you’ve been weight drained and your head has been knocked around for seven or eight rounds. That is when the damage usually happens.
‘But I think this fight will be a Ngannou-type of finish when AJ goes out and lights him up quickly. A sore head and a ruptured eye socket is the best he can hope for. I don’t think Jake Paul is tough enough to get to the point where he is suffering real damage to his brain.’
Joshua has not fought in over 12 months, suffering his own devastating defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024 on a night where he had hoped to be crowned world champion for a third time.
Already, sections of the media and former fighters have suggested the 36-year-old would damage his legacy in the sport by sharing the ring with someone of Paul’s profile.
It would not be the first time boxing has delivered something borderline farcical, with Tyson Fury vs Ngannou treated with similar trepidation in 2023. Floyd Mayweather Jr vs Conor McGregor still stands as one of the most lucrative fight in boxing history with even the legendary Muhammad Ali delving into the crossover world almost 50 years ago, fighting Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki.
‘I remember Muhammad Ali fighting some kickboxers and wrestlers back in the day,’ Haye said. ‘Stuff happens in this sport and I don’t think it will make any difference to AJ’s legacy.
‘If anything, it will raise his stock if he goes out there and knocks him out in one round. No one is going to look down on his previous achievements, he just also becomes the guy who knocked out Jake Paul. I don’t think we can begrudge him doing that.’