Jake Paul wants Anthony Joshua again. Yahoo Sports reported that Paul is angling for a rematch with the former unified heavyweight champion, and the quote attached to the story is pure Paul: “None of that s**t hurt.”
That’s a bold read on a fight that ended with his jaw broken in multiple places.
Joshua stopped Paul last December in a heavyweight bout that drew plenty of criticism before anyone threw a punch. The finish came in Round 6, when Joshua landed a right hand that shattered Paul’s jaw and ended things on the spot, according to Bloody Elbow. It was the second loss of Paul’s professional boxing career, and he hasn’t been back in the ring since. He’s spent most of the year recovering.
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So when Paul says the power didn’t bother him, keep in mind the scoreboard says otherwise, and so did his X-rays.
What’s actually on the table
The Joshua talk lands at an odd moment, because Paul’s business partner at Most Valuable Promotions, Nakisa Bidarian, is busy trying to book somebody else. Bidarian told Jack Figg of The Sun Sport that Darren Till is one of the names they’ve been talking to, pulled from the 15-man hit list Paul published of fighters he wants before he retires. That list also includes Francis Ngannou, Tom Aspinall and Sean Strickland.
Bidarian was candid about the timing. “If we figure it out in the next 24 hours, we’ll hopefully get a fight in this year,” he said. If it drags on for weeks, he said, the fight likely slides to early 2027. His preferred date is Dec. 24, which he pitched as a captive-audience window. “So I think Christmas Eve is better than Christmas Day, at the moment,” Bidarian said, pointing to the NBA and NFL crowding the 25th.
Till has been calling for this fight for years. Bloody Elbow notes he’s on a five-fight win streak across different promotions and rulesets, including a knockout of Luke Rockhold in boxing and two wins in BKFC this year. He has one fight left on his BKFC deal, though Bloody Elbow reported the promotion would likely let him fight elsewhere. Till said earlier this month he’s waiting on Paul to send the contract.
Paul also passed on a Tommy Fury rematch, saying that ship has sailed, per Bloody Elbow. Meanwhile MVP has Amanda Serrano’s final fight booked for Jan. 9 at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, live on DAZN, which gives you a sense of how crowded that promotional calendar is getting.
Sal’s take
I’ve lost money on a lot of dumb things, but I’ve never been dumb enough to believe a guy who says the punch that broke his jaw didn’t hurt. Paul will be coming off roughly a year out of the ring after a brutal knockout, which is exactly the profile I refuse to back at short odds. Till makes sense as a rebuild fight, a guy with name value who’ll sell on Christmas Eve. Joshua is the fight Paul wants people to talk about this week. If Bidarian gets the Till deal done in the next few weeks, we’ll know which one was real.
