The social media sensation was left stunned after Jake Paul’s heavyweight showdown with two-time world champion Anthony Joshua was announced
KSI has put aside his differences with Jake Paul to praise the American for taking on Anthony Joshua.
On Monday afternoon, it was announced Joshua and Paul will fight in a professional heavyweight showdown on Friday, December 19 in Miami, Florida. The clash will be contested over eight three-minute rounds and both men will don 10oz gloves.
Many within the combat sports have been left stunned by the news, including KSI – real name Olajide Olatunji. Both KSI and Paul have verbally clashed over the years – despite the former being close friends with ex-opponent Logan Paul. A potential fight has been discussed, but the main hurdle has been the weight.
A fight between the two stars would arguably go down as the biggest in influencer boxing history. Amid their ongoing feud, KSI appeared to placed their squabbles to one side after he applauded the 28-year-old’s decision to fight Joshua. In a post uploaded to X – formerly known as Twitter – he wrote: “Yeah, fair enough Jake.”
Back in May, fans were dealt a huge blow after Paul stated a potential clash between him and KSI was unlikely. He said on the Ariel Helwani Show: “They only want eight rounds…they just keep adding new stuff [to the negotiations] all the time, and I’m focused on much bigger things. I’m all KSI has, he’s literally nothing without the Paul brothers. Logan brought him Prime, and Prime has kept him relevant, and him being able to fight me is the only thing he has left. At the end of the day, I’m doing much bigger things and don’t need to sit here and be negotiating things on Twitter. If they’re going to make the fight happen, they’re going to do it.
“I don’t [think it’s going to happen]…I’ve been saying this for five, six years, and this is a longer negotiation than Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao…I’m clearly the one who is an active fighter, I’m fighting everybody, so who’s the problem here? They aren’t a serious boxing brand, Misfits has gone to s***. Their brand is a joke…and there’s clearly one side that knows what they’re doing and another side that’s just joking around and it’s a circus.”
Paul does not appear to be losing any sleep over it though, having returned to the ring back in June. The 28-year-old scored an impressive decision win over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. He was due to return last Friday against lightweight king Gervonta Davis, but was forced to cancel the fight after ‘Tank’ was accused of battery, false imprisonment and kidnapping by an ex-girlfriend.
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As for KSI, the social media sensation has not fought since losing to Tommy Fury back in 2023, and it remains to be seen whether he will return to boxing. Nevertheless, Paul has moved on and is looking forward to his showdown with the two-time heavyweight champion.
“This isn’t an AI simulation. This is Judgment Day,” said Paul. “A professional heavyweight fight against an elite world champion in his prime. When I beat Anthony Joshua, every doubt disappears, and no one can deny me the opportunity to fight for a world title. To all my haters, this is what you wanted. To the people of the United Kingdom, I am sorry. On Friday, December 19, under the lights in Miami, live globally only on Netflix, the torch gets passed and Britain’s Goliath gets put to sleep. I KNOWWWW YOU GOT EM PICKED HAHAHHA.”
When is Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul?
Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul will clash in Miami on December 19, just six days before Christmas. The pair will likely walk to the ring at around 11pm local time which would be 4am in the UK. Fight times are usually set to benefit the American audience and are subject to change depending on how long the undercard takes to complete. The event is set to be shown live on Netflix.
