The much-talked about fight in December between Nigerian-born former world heavyweight boxing champion, Anthony Joshua and social media influencer, Jake Paul has been hit with sensitive questions.
Sports247 gathered that many fight experts and egg heads of pugilism are raising eyebrows, as controversy spreads over Paul’s motives.
The biggest issue ahead of the date in December is whether it will be a fixed fight or for real, especially because of Paul’s social media past.
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The YouTuber-turned-boxer has repeatedly been criticised for picking older men, smaller opponents and non-boxers, as he set about creating a lucrative fighting career for himself.
This has now caused a lot of speculations to erupt ahead of his date with Anthony Oluwafeni Olaseni Joshua next month in Miami, USA, with fight gurus declaring that he is either fixing it or about to take the biggest gamble of his career in a £140m bout that will be steamed live on Netflix.
Paul was initially billed to fight WBA lightweight champion, Gervonta “Tank” Davis on Friday, but the fight was called off due to domestic violence accusations against the belt holder.
However, though ‘AJ’ has since been confirmed as the replacement for Davis, an article by Darshan Desai splashed across Yahoo Sports has boldly questioned the fight’s authenticity and asked how Paul could possibly think he can withstand Joshua’s power.
Desai noted in part; “Paul needed another big-name opponent to satisfy Netflix executives, and with Terence Crawford and Ryan Garcia unavailable, Paul’s camp seems to have landed on Joshua as the opponent — a far more dangerous proposition than Davis.
“AJ is 36, active, 250 pounds and steeped in boxing pedigree — it’s everything matchmakers for Paul have avoided in one go.
“No doubt Paul deserves credit for proving his naysayers wrong and stepping into the ring with AJ — if it’s a real fight. The bout could materialize as an exhibition with modified rules.”
