‘We're actively discussing it' – Jake Paul's team CONFIRM Anthony Joshua fight talks and reveal potential date and venue
YouTuber-turned-boxer
4
Nakisa Bidarian is holding talks for Jake Paul to fight Anthony Joshua
Credit: The Mega Agency
It sparked a back-and-forth exchange between the two behind-the-scenes - paving the way for
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed they are interested with Paul's promotional partner
And with Saudi boxing supremo Turki Alalshikh also on board -
Bidarian told
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"I'm looking at it as Jake versus Joshua, which is quite biblical, and it's quite impactful in many ways.
"I think size wise, we can get comfortable with it, and I think experience wise, Jake is learning very fast and growing, and Joshua is a little long in the tooth.
"So it could be a very interesting matchup, and we're actively discussing it with Matchroom."
Paul, 28, is coming off a ten-round points victory in June against former middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, 39.
Most read in Boxing
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Meanwhile Joshua, 35, is yet to return since being knocked out by Daniel Dubois, 27, in September.
Former world champ fears for Jake Paul's health amid Anthony Joshua fight talks
Bidarian said: "I think we're looking at it happening at the start of 2026.
"It's public that AJ was taking a little time away, I think he had a little surgery.
"So once he's ready, and once Jake is ready, we're going to squarely focus on that.
"It's a fight that Jake wants to do, and that's a discussion we've had at length, and he feels very confident about where he is in his career and his chances of upsetting Anthony Joshua."
Bidarian revealed: "We're looking at multiple options. Wembley's definitely a possibility. Jake said he'd like to do it there.
"He likes the idea of going in and hearing 90,000 people booing him! He kind of feeds off that.
It could be a very interesting matchup, and we're actively discussing it with Matchroom
Nakisa Bidarian on Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul
"But we're looking at the US, obviously Saudi Arabia is an option, the Middle East is an option as a whole.
"We want to do it in the most impactful way possible."
Paul made his heavyweight debut last November - when Mike Tyson returned aged 58 after
20 YEARS
away from the ring.
He put on two stone to 16st 2lb (227lb) but admitted he struggled to even run before dropping back down to the 14st 4lb cruiserweight limit.
But Joshua was 18 stone against Dubois - which is a whopping
FOUR STONE
heavier than
AJ brutally knocked out MMA star Francis Ngannou, 38, in 2024 in what was only the ex-UFC champ's second boxing bout.
Bidarian said: "Power is obviously the last thing to go.
"So obviously, AJ has a ton of power, and he's still fairly young. Mike Tyson - much more vicious of a knockout artist than Anthony Joshua - that was a risk Jake was willing to take.
"Francis Ngannou, amazing MMA fighter, very powerful man, but not an experienced boxer, right? He is a lot less experienced than Jake Paul.
"So if people were comfortable with Francis getting in there with AJ, Jake, who is now 13 fights in, plus one amateur fight, then we are comfortable with this."
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Anthony Joshua pictured with Jake Paul in 2022
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Joshua brutally knocked out MMA star Francis Ngannou in 2024
Credit: Getty
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