'Circus' or 'can't blame him' - is Joshua right to take Paul fight?

Anthony Joshua will fight Jake Paul on 19 December, in the sort of boxing match that only a few years back would have been unthinkable.

Paul has fought fellow social media influencers, MMA fighters and a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in the past few years since becoming a professional boxer.

Joshua is the first active, elite-level champion that Paul will have faced in the ring.

The fight will represent the peak of Paul's boxing career, but what will it do for Joshua and his legacy?

Joshua, 36, is still aiming for the biggest fights in the heavyweight division and promoter Eddie Hearn says he hopes to finalise a bout with Tyson Fury for 2026.

He has also been mulling a partnership with current champion Oleksandr Usyk's training team, having twice lost to the Ukrainian in 2021 and 2022.

So does accepting a money-making tune-up fight against Paul undermine how seriously he will be taken in future?

"Is it a bit of a circus? Yeah, absolutely", says former WBA lightweight champion Anthony Crolla. "I think it's an insane situation.

"It will be a very dangerous fight. If there were some kind of injuries inflicted on Jake Paul, then there would be a lot of people who would have to answer big questions.

"Anybody who knows boxing can't allow this to be built up like it's a serious fight. I think it's crazy, but will I watch it? Probably, out of curiosity."

The fight has been sanctioned as a professional bout made up of eight three-minute rounds, and will take place in Miami, Florida.

Last year, Texas approved Paul's fight with former world champion Tyson as a pro fight but with "certain waivers".

That contest was made up of eight two-minute rounds and 14oz gloves were worn, rather than 10oz.

"I don't think it's going to damage his career or tarnish his legacy," says 2008 Olympic bronze medallist David Price.

"People aren't going to remember Anthony Joshua for knocking out Jake Paul - George Foreman and Muhammad Ali fought fad events and journeymen, and nobody talks about that any more."

A bout between the two, which will be broadcast on streaming service Netflix, will likely earn Joshua tens of millions of pounds and represent one of the biggest paydays of his illustrious career.

Paul's fight with Tyson last autumn garnered 108 million viewers on the platform, with the YouTuber taking home a reported £31m and Tyson's purse around half of that.

"There's nothing really happening in the heavyweight division right now - it has stagnated," Price added.

"Joshua is in a bit of a limbo position, where he doesn't want to stoop down to fight an up-and-coming British heavyweight because that has no upside for him.

"So if he is going to drop his level, why not do it against someone who he'll get a massive fee for knocking out without any risk?

"People are going to tune in because they want to see Paul get splattered. I can't blame Joshua."

Influencer boxing matches began to garner high viewership when KSI fought Joe Weller in 2018 and have become more common, with fighters boasting lofty reputations increasingly willing to be involved because of the money on offer.

At the same time, boxing's reputation has taken a hit because of difficulties arranging fights at the highest level and the influx of money from Saudi Arabia, which has become a prominent player in the professional arena.

Some believe that influencer fights attract new fans and are helping safeguard the future of the sport, while others argue they render it a laughing stock.

"Jake Paul has done a lot of good for boxing, especially women's boxing," Crolla says. "He is putting on some big nights and bringing new people into the sport.

"I worked the fight he had with Tommy Fury on TV and so many young kids were coming up to me saying 'you were at the fight', and they didn't even recognise me from my own career."

But for many, the benefits of big names like Paul taking to the ring come at the cost of heritage and history.

"It does make a mockery of the sport," Price concedes. "I watched Rod Stewart's son get knocked out the other day - these things do turn it into a joke.

"The sport has got this far without things like that going on, so I don't think it's needed for boxing to survive.

"But the fact there is a tiny percentage chance an influencer is going to knock somebody out is what makes lots of these people tune in. It's a new generation of fight fans and, like it or loathe it, views matter.

"The old school fighter who got his head down, worked hard and did his talking in the ring is sadly a dying breed."