Joshua vows to ‘outshine and hurt’ Paul Dec. 19

• Andreas HaleDec 10, 2025, 01:40 PM ET

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  Andreas Hale is a combat sports reporter at ESPN. Andreas covers MMA, boxing and pro wrestling. In Andreas’ free time, he plays video games, obsesses over music and is a White Sox and 49ers fan. He is also a host for Sirius XM’s Fight Nation. Before joining ESPN, Andreas was a senior writer at DAZN and Sporting News. He started his career as a music journalist for outlets including HipHopDX, The Grammys and Jay-Z’s Life+Times. He is also an NAACP Image Award-nominated filmmaker as a producer for the animated short film “Bridges” in 2024.

If there were any thoughts that Anthony Joshua would take it easy on Jake Paul due to some rumored language in his contract, the former two-time unified heavyweight champion made it clear he would be doing no such thing when they meet on Dec. 19 at Kaseya Center in Miami, live on Netflix.

“I don’t know how to take it easy on an opponent,” Joshua told ESPN. “I just can’t do that. With this fight I know I’m going in there to box and hurt. It has nothing to do with a contract; it’s just my mood. Contractually there is nothing to say what I can and can’t do. My mood is to go in there, box, outclass, outshine and hurt my opponent no matter who it is.”

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Joshua is, by far, the biggest test of Paul’s boxing career. He’ll hold a significant size and experience advantage and plans to use every ounce of it to finish Paul inside the distance. The last time Joshua faced a boxing novice, former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in 2024, Joshua blew out the hulking heavyweight with a devastating second-round knockout. He said that he can’t afford to risk taking Paul lightly, no matter how big of a betting favorite he may be. Paul, who he likes and said is good for boxing, will be just another opponent that he plans to add to his impressive portfolio of knockout victims.

“There’s zero chance this fight goes the distance,” Joshua said. “It might go one round. It might go two rounds, but he won’t see the final bell.”

Joshua will be competing in the United States for the first time since 2019, when he was knocked out by Andy Ruiz Jr. in a massive upset at Madison Square Garden. Joshua told ESPN that he is excited about his return to the U.S. but promises that he won’t be on the wrong end of another historic boxing upset.

“It’s a win-win situation for Jake Paul because he’s in there with me and he could come back stronger even in defeat,” Joshua said. “But the only way it’s a win-win for me is if I get the knockout. I’ve learned about speaking things into existence so I’m telling everyone that I am getting that knockout.”