ANTHONY JOSHUA VS. JAKE PAUL WEIGH-IN, PRESS CONFERENCE, BETTING ODDS & MEDIA WORKOUT
Miami, Florida (December 18th, 2025)– The highly anticipated professional heavyweight bout between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul is finally upon us and is scheduled for Friday, December 19, 2025, at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida, and will stream exclusively on Netflix. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET, with ring walks for the main event expected around 11 p.m. ET.
The former 2 time Heavyweight World Champion Anthony Joshua, 36, (28-4, 25 Kos) with an 82-inch reach, enters the fight as the significant favorite due to his professional experience, size, reach and power advantages over Jake Paul, 28 (12-1, 7 Kos), who has a 76 inch reach. This fight will be contested at a 245lb weight limit.
Paul is considered a massive underdog (around +700), and this marks his first professional fight at heavyweight against an active, elite-level boxer. Anthony Joshua is trained by Team Usyk. Oleksandr Usyk is the only fighter to defeat Joshua twice.
Jake Paul has had some success in boxing and is not just a You Tuber performer like many of the boxing fans fans call him. Jake Paul has wins over former MMA legends, Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva, Mike Perry and Nate Diaz. Jake Paul only lost to undefeated Tommy Fury by a close decision in 2023, where he had knocked down Fury later in the fight. Since that loss, Jake has won 5 in a row, including wins over former boxing world champions, Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Jake does have respectable power to have a slight chance to upset Joshua.
Joshua has more elite heavyweight championship experience with notable wins over Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte, Francis Ngannou, Andy Ruiz Jr., Alexander Povetkin, and Carlos Takam. Joshua also has a high degree of amateur success with an Olympic Gold Medal. Jake Paul never boxed as an amateur, however, he does have a amateur wrestling background while he was working with Disney in his home state of Ohio.
The realistic path to victory for Jake Paul is limited, while he must use speed, head movement, and angles to bypass Joshua’s long reach and work on the inside. His best chance involves making the fight an “ugly” and scrappy affair, using body attacks to slow Joshua down during the clinch. He can’t give Joshua any room to extend his right hand and land uppercuts on the inside. Since he is giving up a lot of reach, he will have to stick on Joshua the whole night. Paul can get lazy at times with low output or hesitate and there is no way he can win this fight if that is the strategy. Paul must show improved fast footspeed , in-and-out movement, and the ability to land a lucky shot while punching with or countering Joshua or capitalize on any potential hesitation from Joshua to pull off this major upset.
Paul, who is trained by Theo Chambers from Kronk Gym, brought in elite sparring partners Frankie Sanchez, Lawrence Okolie, and Cassius Chaney. Daniel Dubois also visited the Jake Paul Camp to give him advice. Paul is going into this fight suffering a noticeable nose injury from sparring.
Joshua’s best strategy is to use his significant size, reach, and power advantages to secure an early knockout. His recent second-round knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in March 2024 is cited as evidence of his finishing ability. Anything other than a dominant, quick win could be seen as a disappointment for the former two-time heavyweight champion. However Joshua was stopped by Daniel Dubois in 2024 and some boxing experts say Joshua’s best fights at age 36 are behind him despite being in talks to face Tyson Fury in 2026.
Joshua still has elite ability to control range with his jab, clean, simple with a direct punching style and has the killer instinct finish opponents. Joshua does not have the best head movement and can be hit at time and his hand speed is slightly above average. The fight will be an eight-round professional contest, with both fighters using 10-ounce gloves, and the result will count toward their official records. Most boxing experts generally view Paul as a massive underdog due to the significant gap in skill and experience, with most predicting a Joshua stoppage victory, often within the early rounds.
Anderson Silva, 50, (3-2, 2 Kos) vs. Tyron Woodley, 43, (0-2) is on the undercard of the Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua event, streaming live on Netflix. This 6-round cruiserweight bout (195 lbs) pits two former UFC champions against each other, with Woodley stepping in for an injured Chris Weidman, marking Woodley’s return to the ring after losses to Jake Paul.
Woodley’s main weapon is his one-punch knockout power, which remains a threat in the boxing ring. He is physically strong and aims to make the fight physical. A recurring weakness for Woodley is his tendency toward long periods of inactivity and an unwillingness to pull the trigger. This low output makes him easy to outpoint in a round-by-round boxing format. He relies heavily on isolated power shots rather than using combinations. For Woodley to win, he must cut off the ring, apply intense pressure, and force close-quarters exchanges. Landing something heavy early would be his best bet to force Silva out of his comfort zone.
Overall, Anderson Silva is the more skilled boxer with the ability to control the tempo. Silva has had a respectable performance loss against Jake Paul and has defeated the former WBC champ, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., when he was 47 years old. In the UFC, both fighters were known for their counterpunching ability. This fight will most likely end with an Anderson Silva decision win.
Alicia Baumgardner, 31, (17-1, 7 Kos) from Detroit, Michigan, is defending her unified WBA, WBO, and IBF super featherweight world titles against Leila Beaudoin, 29, (13-1, 2 Kos) who fights out of Levis, Quebec, Canada. The fight is unusual for women’s boxing and will be contested under men’s championship rules, with 12 three-minute rounds. The fight between Alycia Baumgardner is 5 feer 6 with a 66-inch reach and is a classic matchup of Baumgardner’s explosive power and technical precision against Beaudoin, who is 5 feet 8 with a 68-inch reach and is known for her relentless pressure and high work rate.
Both fighters share an orthodox stance. Beaudoin’s recent knockout win over Elhem Mekhaled, an opponent Baumgardner went the distance with. However Alicia is the superior puncher and has a decent Ko power with her signature overhand right. The key to the fight will likely be whether Beaudoin can disrupt Baumgardner’s rhythm and force a volume fight in close quarters, or if Baumgardner can maintain distance and land one of her explosive power shots to end the fight early. Baumgardner does have good conditioning to do the extra work to win the late rounds and is trained by Derrick James.
Alicia’s top wins include becoming the unified and undisputed super featherweight champion, notably stopping Terri Harper for the WBC title in 2021, defeating Mikaela Mayer in a split decision for unified glory in 2022, and beating Elhem Mekhaled for the WBA title in 2023, solidifying her reign as the queen of the division. She continues to defend her titles, most recently winning by unanimous decision against Jennifer Miranda in July 2025. Leila has 4 wins in a row after losing to a journeywoman, Elizabeth Chavez Espinoza, in 2024. Alicia is favored to win a decision in this fight.
Full Card Fights
Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua: Heavyweight
Anderson Silva vs. Tyron Woodley: 6-Round Cruiserweight at 195 lbs
Alycia Baumgardner vs. Leila Beaudoin: Unified Super Featherweight World Champion bout
Cherneka Johnson vs. Amanda Galle: Undisputed Bantamweight World Champion bout
Caroline Dubois vs. Camila Panatta: WBC Lightweight World Champion bout
Yokasta Valle vs. Yadira Bustillos: WBC Strawweight World Champion bout
Avious Griffin vs. Justin Cardona: Welterweight
Keno Marley vs. Diarra Davis Jr.: Cruiserweight
Joshua vs. Paul Average Betting Odds:
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