Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua: Who has the edge heading into their fight?

This time, ‘The Problem Child’ Jake Paul has a severe problem on his hands. Paul will challenge Olympic gold medalist and former two-time unified heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on Friday night. The heavyweight tilt is set for eight rounds.

The 28-year-old Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) has often been maligned for facing fighters who come from the MMA world or are well past their prime to be considered an active threat. At 36, Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) remains a current power-punching force that Paul, a natural cruiserweight, will test himself against.

Paul last defeated Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June, coming off his widely-spectated unanimous decision over a 58-year-old Mike Tyson the November prior. Meanwhile, Joshua hasn’t fought since suffering a painful fifth-round knockout loss at the hands of Daniel Dubois in September 2024.

Will Joshua run over Paul with an explosive knockout? Or will the underdog Paul find a way to shock the world? DAZN News analyzes who has the edge heading into this bout.

Boxing Styles

In their initial press conference last month, Anthony Joshua warned “I’m going to break his face, break his body up, stomp all over him. That’s my mentality.”

If that attitude transfers into the ring Friday night, Joshua should apply pressure off the front foot and barrel down the center line with that massive right hand toward explosive results.

Joshua can be hit, especially via counterpunch, and during their “MVP Face 2 Face” segment, Jake Paul boldly stated “I know I can land on him.” Friday night, he will get his chance to prove his confidence right.

Though his boxing ability is steadily improving, Paul is going to have to fight his assertion into fruition.

Edge: Joshua

Power

In preparation for AJ, Paul has sparred with the heavyweight likes of Jared Anderson and Frank Sanchez, and hard-hitting cruiserweight Lawrence Okolie.

Hopefully they helped Paul brace for impact with Joshua who counts 25 of his 28 professional victories by the way of knockout, having stopped the likes of Wladimir Klitschko, Dillian Whyte, Francis Ngannou and Otto Wallin in brutal fashion over the course of his career.

Of Paul’s 12 wins, seven have come by knockout but against a far inferior quality of opponents.

Paul has decent pop to his punch but this one is a landslide in Joshua’s favor with an 89 percent knockout ratio in his support.

Edge: Joshua

Mental Warfare

Joshua’s world-class experience includes 24 rounds against two-time undisputed heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk, having also fought against Andy Ruiz Jr., Wladimir Klitschko and Dillian Whyte.

His quality of opponents over the course of his body of work has been far superior than Paul’s experience.

Consider this, though: Paul suffering a devastating knockout loss against Joshua would carry no shame for the YouTuber turned boxer at all. In fact, the result is expected by most.

On the other hand, AJ said it himself that he must get a knockout win. Anything less, especially an unthinkable loss, would spell doom for Joshua’s career.

There is pressure that comes with that … pressure that Paul does not have to deal with at all.

Edge: Paul

Who has the edge in Paul vs. Joshua?

DAZN News has it 2-1 for Joshua and that is being generous to Paul who will be tasked with truly shocking the world in his biggest test yet.

It is a monumental, tall order — one that AJ can shatter with one punch.