In what is being described as one of the biggest nights in boxing, Jake “El Gallo de Dorado” Paul and Anthony “AJ” Joshua will soon step into the ring at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. Paul's presence as a fighter has not come without criticism, whether it be the quality of his opponents, his existence as a media personality, or the PPV revenue his fights have generated; people have thoughts. Perhaps the biggest talking point is the conspiracy that the fights are compromised in Paul's favor.
With Paul fighting fighters like Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, Ben Askren, and the most famous, a 58-year-old Mike Tyson, the first wave of criticism was that the YouTuber was only fighting people past their prime, or in Askren's case, legends that were known for wrestling, not boxing.
But with Joshua, this fight is undeniably different. Only 7 years older than Paul, the British professional boxer (28-4, 25 KOs) is a two-time unified WBO, WBA, and IBF heavyweight world champion. With 28 wins, 4 losses, and 25 KOs, the Olympic gold medalist is a knockout legend. Joshua has around 30 pounds on him, weighing in at 243.4, and Paul at 216.6. Joshua also stands at 6'6" with a reach of 82 inches, while Paul is 6'1" with a reach of 76.
There's no denying that Joshua has already proved himself in the sport and that tonight is Paul's biggest fight of his career. But with the fight has come more online speculation. Both the fighters' comments on Instagram are flooded, with people convinced that if Joshua doesn't win, the fight is rigged.
In Joshua's recent post, his top comment reads, "Please don’t embarrass the sport of boxing. Get this KO done and set the Fury fight up." Others wrote, "Please, Anthony..don't sell out," and "The fact that people are giving Jake a chance of winning this is crazy work."
Paul's posts are filled with the same kind of rhetoric. The top liked comment on his own post is "Jake Paul wins by wire transfer." "Imagine winning all your fights by paying them," "Jake by Match Fixing," and "JAKE BY HOWEVER HE WANTS," wrote a few more skeptical viewers.
But the 28-year-old knows he's the underdog, and he's leaning into it. On Thursday, he shared a photo from Rocky IV, comparing himself to Sylvester Stallone's famous character, who goes against the much larger Russian, Ivan Vasilyevich Drago, in a revenge match after he killed his best friend Apollo Creed in the ring.
They've also been borrowing from the storyline, with Joshua quoted as saying, "If I can kill you, I'll kill you" to Paul. Drago famously says, "If he dies, he dies" in Rocky III after knocking out Creed.
Ahead of the fight, Paul also shared a bizarre AI video of him and Joshua making out at weigh-ins with the caption, "I’m the underdog, but daddy always lifts me up."
Streaming exclusively on Netflix, MVP’s Jake vs. Joshua will stream at 8:00 pm ET / 5:00 pm PT from Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.