Jake Paul still targeting Anthony Joshua fight in 2026: ‘I like the challenge’

Jake Paul vs. Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. - Premiere Boxing Championship — Jake Paul | Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images

Jake Paul says he’s finally going to fight the kind of opponent his critics want to see him face. Next year.

On Saturday, Paul added another win to his boxing résumé, taking a unanimous decision over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in their cruiserweight fight in Anaheim, Calif. It was another underwhelming performance from Paul, who was visibly larger than the 39-year-old Chavez, and only continued the criticism Paul has faced for hand-picking undersized and past-their-prime opponents. But for Paul, this win was a pivotal moment in his career: a turning point for him towards a more serious boxing run.

“I don’t even think I was a fighter then,” Paul said in his post-fight press conference when asked about his loss to Tommy Fury in comparison to his performance on Saturday. “That was two years, two-and-a-half years into the sport, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t have the right team around me, the proper team around me, the proper conditioning. My lifestyle outside of the ring was still like a YouTube, celebrity, actor, whatever I was at the time. I wasn’t fully focused on boxing.

“This feels like chapter one is done tonight, now we’re moving on to chapter two and I’m just getting warmed up in this sport. People hold the Tommy Fury thing against me, but what now? I just beat a former world champion, and I’m coming to avenge that loss, as well, with Tommy.”

Paul lost a split decision to Fury in 2023, bolstering criticism that Paul is not a real boxer, as he held himself out to be. Since then, the former YouTuber has won six in a row, though his opponents did little to dissuade his critics. Before facing Chavez, Paul squared off with 58-year-old Mike Tyson in an eight-round fight last November. But with his new shift toward a more serious boxing career, Paul now sets his sights on a more age-appropriate matchup: former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.

“That’s the main one that we’ve talked a lot about,” Paul’s business partner, Nakisa Bidarian, said. “If it’s not for the title, it’s looking at Tommy, if he’s reasonable, and then Anthony Joshua. And he’s adamant that he wants to make that fight happen at the end of 2026. We’re going to meet with Matchroom while we’re in New York.”

Only 35 years old, Joshua is a former unified heavyweight champion, and regarded as one of the most dangerous punchers of his generation. Joshua brutally knocked out Francis Ngannou in March of 2024, before getting stopped by Daniel Dubois in September of that year in their IBF heavyweight title fight. For Paul, Joshua would represent a huge leap up in competition, but one “The Problem Child” insists he’s ready for.

“I’m definitely not a heavyweight but I’m still going to take the challenge,” Paul said. “You look at Deontay Wilder, he was beating these guys weighing 215 pounds. Granted, he’s 6-foot-6 or something, but anything is possible. I like the challenge. That’s the criticism. ‘Fight someone in their prime who is a beast!’ I think people just want to see me lose. That’s really the message behind it all. Anthony Joshua is an insane fight, but I want that challenge. We’ve been DMing back and forth, he wants to make it happen, he called me up, and it’s looking very likely for next year.”

Jake Paul still targeting Anthony Joshua fight in 2026: ‘I like the challenge’

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