Speaker 1: The countdown is on to fight time.
Speaker 2: This is Big Fight Weekend.
Speaker 1: Now here is your host, DJ Williams.
Speaker 3: All Right, special edition as promised off the Big Fight
Weekend preview podcast. Yes, it's Jake Paul and former unified
heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Whatever ridicule that everybody has had,
this is apparently happening Friday night in Miami, Florida, and
we're in on another special edition of the preview. Rafael
and I have already kind of broken this fight down
off off the weekend on the Fight Preaching Night recap pod.
Now this is a I keep saying, special conversation that
I'm gonna have with the boxing writer. Hello, David Payne,
the boxing writer in England. Boxing Writer dot co UK
is his website. He also helps us out with Big
Fight Weekend dot com, also with Roundtables Sports. A man
of many written talents. Good to have you on the
preview pot David Payne.
Speaker 4: It's great to be here a long time. I'll see TJ. Yeah,
great to be back on a Big Fight Weekend podcast,
usually to talk about a great fighting prospect, but of
course this is something of a carnival, but we will
enjoy Dice say.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're here for the carnival, and carnival is a
good way to describe Ricky Caroll trying to corral the
rest of us at Big Fight Weekend dot com. He's
the managing editor, he's the lead writer. How are you
my friend? As we head to Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua,
never mind the snickering, It's apparently gonna happen.
Speaker 5: Yeah apparently, so yeah, yeah, let's see what happens. Let's
see if they both make it into the ring. I'm
very much the same as Tony Bell you. I saw
him do an interview earlier and he said I'm not
going to believe it until they both get into the ring.
Speaker 2: I think so yeah, I'm pretty much to say.
Speaker 1: They got some interest.
Speaker 3: Interesting cinneament All right, so David, you're you're there in
England and obviously you've kept up and followed with Anthony
Joshua's entire existence as heavyweight champion unified heavyweight champion on
two occasions. What what is the the interest? What is
the buzz in England?
Speaker 1: In the UK?
Speaker 3: What are you sinse on the television, on the internet,
the papers, et cetera. Are are they beginning to be
interested in this, if at all.
Speaker 4: I think there is interest. There is definitely interest TJ.
What that speaks to, I'm not sure. But in terms
of the casual sometimes boxing fans that you encounter in
football crowds and in canteens and cafes and so on
and so forth in the pubs, they are talking about it,
that they're having the same rise smiles that we're having
about it, that Joshua should walk straight through him, et cetera,
et cetera. But obviously there's there's the usual selection of
conspiracy theories floating around too, that there may be some
contractual scripting going on to some degree, And there's obviously
the little murmur that amongst those of watched Joshua over
the thirteen years that he isn't what he was and
who knows, But that's a very small percentage of the
cohort that are interested in the fight. The overwhelming consensus
is of course, that josh Wall do the business. But
there's definitely interest, there's definitely recognition, there's definitely awareness that
this fight's come in. Obviously, the Netflix platform is huge
in that, and I think that that will escalate as
the days pass. And we get towards that weekend with
the secondary caveat that our good friend Ricky mentions about
whether they actually step between the rings. I know there's
some skepticism about that yet too.
Speaker 3: No doubt, and we are doing this early in the
fight week, so Ricky pick up on that again. You're
from England, you go back and forth, You've been in
other parts of Europe? Is there buzz where you are?
Our people are fight fans that you're engaging with. Do
they care about this in Europe? I'm curious?
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think when it was Jake Paul against Tyson, I
couldn't believe the amount of people that had never ever
spoke to me about boxing that were asking me questions.
Who I work with in my day job, friends of friends.
That buzz was huge. This not quite so much. I've
had a few people reach out to me and ask
for my opinion, and I think it's it's all down
to what Joshua has got left.
Speaker 2: I think, what does he have left? How much damage?
Speaker 5: As the a visceration as you like to call it,
The visceration against Daniel Dubois.
Speaker 2: Was, Yeah, it was pretty conclusive.
Speaker 5: Every time he got hit jab anything he looked like
he was going to go over. Now, obviously he's not
fighting Daniel Dubar this time. He's fighting Jake Paul, Who's
who's a novice cruise away. And I don't think I'm
doing him a disservice there. He's a novice cruise away.
So yeah, it's all what he's got left. But there's
definitely a buzz. Like David said, I think there's still
some doubt, like I said, that the that actually happens.
There's been some talk a broken noses for Jake Paul.
I think I saw somewhere he broke his nose in sparring.
He had a few other little niggles I heard. So
I'm still not convinced. Although I was thinking I hadn't
heard a lot from Joshua in the build up. I
think he's been quite quiet. He did do an interview
with TMZ Sports about a week ago where he seemed
quite focused. Some of the questions were amazing. To be honest,
he did. I did watch their face to face earlier today.
It was probably a few hours ago, and he seems
he seemed locked in Joshua. He seemed ready.
Speaker 3: And we should he should point out I believe that
was done in and around the time of the press
conference back two or three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: I don't think that's a recent thing that they're releasing.
Speaker 5: I mean, no, no, I think they've just done that.
I think they've just done it to kind of kickoff
fight week.
Speaker 1: I think so, David, David, you wanted to get in here.
Speaker 3: I know, isn't isn't there a real concern about Joshua
from an injury standpoint that we haven't addressed because he
had to have elbow surgery earlier this year. In regard
to the time off as well.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's just it's picking the two strands
are interesting. It's picking up the point Ricky's making about
what has he got left, which seemed ludicrous, as you mentioned,
talking about a novice Cruiserway who's barely beaten a professional
fighter of note, of any note, or even a professional
fighter really well. I think the injury is obviously was
a factor, but at the time it was back in
May and it was estimated he'd be out of service
for six or eight weeks. We're now eight months on
from that. I don't see how that's a factor. We
never heard anything of any problems, although he didn't end
up boxing inside except August September, as was widely anticipated
if he was going to fight. But I think the
bigger thing, the bigger benefit for Joshua for this, apart
from the additional name recognition that he will get through
the Netflix platform and new audience, etc. Will be just
walking through the PTSD of what he went through the
last time. He thought this is like a bonus edition
on that front. Isn't it that he can walk, do
the small bit of pre fire, he can do the
way in, he can do some moving around, You can
go through that kind of mentality thing, find out where
he feels he is, even though the risk is virtually zero,
and he can do the walk to the ring, and
he can do all that stuff. And because the last
time out was I can't even I attempt to say the
word that you described it as. I had obliteration written
down here, very similar terminology. But yes, he was rendered
very tentative. And if you cast your minds back to
one or two other occasions when Joshua has had a
nightmare night, I ei the realist fight. He had to
go through quite a lot of trauma to come back
through the rematch. He was as tentative as hell, hanging
on for dear life, scared to death of getting hit again.
And that's going back some years now if we think
about it. So I think this unequivocally gives him an
option of earning an awful lot of money. And if
it feels terrible and it doesn't feel right, isn't probably
the same amount of money you would have earned from
a February or March fight against a contender, And he
can walk away and if he feels good, he's shaken
off some of those demons, thrown some dust sheets over
some of those demons in his house of ghosts, and
you can move on to a more meaningful fight in
the spring, or as I know you mentioned t Jane
previous podcast with Dan, why amss around with that? Why
not go straight into the fury fight? And I suppose
it kind of opens up that possibility that at least
he's gone through the motions of a move around and
a bit of gym work and a bit of the
kind of pr around a fight. So I think it's
more about that to me, that's the added benefit for him,
more than maybe the elbow surgery, which I don't anticipate
being an issue.
Speaker 3: Love David Pain's insight. The boxing writer Ricky Carroll also
here from Big Fight Weekend dot Com. Ricky picked back
up on is there is there much to be worried
about with an elbow injury in addition to about a
fifteen month layoff from the end of twenty twenty four
now until fight time here.
Speaker 2: No, I think I agree with David.
Speaker 5: I don't think in terms of the elbow surgery, I
think he's had long enough now. I think he's an
opportunity to pick up a fairly sizable paycheck.
Speaker 2: I think it's going to be pretty decent, you know.
Speaker 5: I think if he's got anything left of what he's
had in the past, I think he has a move around.
He feels out for a round or two, very much
like he did against the Ghanu. I kind of see
it going a similar sort of way if he's got
if he's still around that kind of level, or even
slightly less than that, to be honest, just feeling him
out for a couple of rounds, sort of sizing him
up and then just hitting him with that big right hand.
Speaker 3: On that point, he was aggressive though against ghan who
in the first round and knocked him down.
Speaker 5: Ricky, he was, but he was quite patient. I thought
as well. I didn't think he was. I didn't think
he was quite calculated. So I don't think he's going
to go in there and start throwing.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 5: I think a lot of people anticipate he's going to
walk straight up to him as soon as the bell
goes and knock him out in like ten seconds. I
don't see that happening. I think he's gonna feel him out.
It's like he said, it's a fifteen month layoffs as well,
so there's gonna be a little bit of ring roused.
Area want to get his distance, You'll want to get comfortable,
have a bit of a move around, and then I'll
just see him just smashing him with that right hand.
Speaker 4: I think. I think that's entirely plausible that he just
sort of has a look for three minutes just to
because he may have to chase him. I mean, it
may be that Jake Paul's skitting around the edge of
the ring. Who knows that. I don't imagine Jake Paul
is going to come walking straightforward. Perhaps you will, I
doubt it. I still have to stop myself and hear
myself say these words that Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua
are going to be in the same rings, because I
don't think Jake Paul would be a British cruiserweight champion.
I think there's probably Halvard doesn't light heavyweights in Great
Britain that would obliterate him in three rounds. And we're
talking about Anthony Joshua at six foot, six hundred and
forty five pounds, as he will be a former Olympic champion,
two time everyweight champing, who's thirty six years old. He's
not young. There's some miles on the clock, there's some
debris in his background, there's some baggage going into the fight,
but goodness me, he's fine YouTuber who's trained for three
or four years and has looked terrified when Tommy Fury
thought he might thought about throwing a punch, which is
only a couple of years ago. I mean, it's a
remarkable story that he's pulled this off from a commercial.
Speaker 3: Point, sure to that point, well to that point, he
has leveraged this, we like to say in the United States,
leverage it to the hilt, or leverage it to the maximum.
He has leveraged it with the Tyson paydays. He's leveraged
it even in other fights where he was taking minimal
risk to still get millions of dollars out of those.
And this will be the biggest financial windfall of them
all for Jake Paul and even for Anthony Joshua. He's
going to get a massive payday out of this. But clearly,
anybody that looks at this with any objectivity, he hasn't
been in with any kind of a fighter that's remotely
as talented or skilled, much less as big. Let's pick
up on that this is the biggest guy by far
that he will have been in with, and that makes
it almost even more silly to contemplate that Jake Paul
might win. The thing is that you're in with a
much bigger, hard punching guy. What about that point, David
pick it up on that.
Speaker 4: Well, there's like a slightly there's even a nuance in
that which is very very obvious. I know that he's
just massively bigger man. But the thing of it is,
when it comes to weigh in, Jake Paul might wait
two twenty and I think Joshua's got some stipulation he
can't be above two four five, which I think he's
manicuring really for him to get down to two farther.
I think it's irrelevant. But Joshua's been this size since
he was twenty years old. This is something that Jake
Paul has moved towards and will be bulky and on
the scales will have a similar sort of number. But
this is not a reality, is it. I mean, Joshua
has been obviously six what six, but he's been two
hundred and fifty pounds virtually since the Olympics. I mean,
it's just a lifetime spent as an enormous mountain of
a man, and Paul is just trying to get bulk
to get anywhere near as a as a numerical comparison,
but he's not in the same stratosphere for size.
Speaker 3: Ricky pick it up on that about the size difference side.
The joke is size matters. Size is very much going
to matter on Friday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, when you look at as soon as you look
at them in each other up and facing off at
the press conference, it was almost comical. He's so much
bigger than him, and I just think it's, like I said,
it just goes back for me. It just centers around
what Joshua has got left, if there's a desire there,
if there's enough punt resistan there, because he's probably gonna act.
I think he'll hit him. I think he hit him.
Jake's gonna hit him, but he should. He's got no
writes at all. It's almost laughable. Like David said, it
really is. I have to keep pinching myself. That is
something that we're even talking about. But it is still
quite intrigued, and it's still quite triguing.
Speaker 2: And I watch I don't know whether that's a whether
that's against me or not.
Speaker 3: Because this because we love this sport so and the
people that are listening to us live that love and
live the sport and enjoy the sport, and the sport
is just different because there is intrigue, there's the danger
of one punch that can change everything around it. It's
just different. It's different, and that's what we're in part.
We're tuning in to see who's gonna get chinned, right, David,
as you guys call it, who's gonna get clipped?
Speaker 4: And it's and it's totally different. But the only kind
of thing that you can point to in recent memory
is Tyson Fury is sitting on the floor looking up
at Francis, and they were more comparable in size. Francis
and Ghana was a combat specialist, but when he sat
on the floor looking up at him, none of us
could believe that happened. And I guess that's that's as
close as an approximation as I can find. I mean,
when Floyd Patterson fought Peter Adamaker in fifty seven, Radamaker
making his debut straight out of the Olympics, that's the
nearest thing. But that's an insult to Radomaker was an
Olympic Olympic medalist and he was bigger than Floyd Patterson,
but he put Patterson down once tight. So but that's stretching.
The comparison to anarexic is there is no comparison. This
is a one off. I cannot conjure of another thing
that's remotely like this, and surely common sense as to
prove it.
Speaker 3: And in Ghanu is a big guy, and so you
could understand that. And that's what your point is about.
Jake Paul who was fighting at one hundred and ninety
pounds in the last fight, and I was there in
June against Chavez Junior, puffing himself up.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 3: A few more moments left a lot of discussion about
the Tyson Fury Turkey Alaishik says it's gonna happen in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 1: So how does that factor in in your mind? Ricky
go first?
Speaker 3: How does that factor in here added pressure for Joshua
or do you don't you think it means absolutely nothing
additional for him with Jake Paul, that that's looming out there,
that a possible it's been kicked around, a possible one
hundred million dollar pay day each. I don't know how
realistic that is, but that's what's looming out there. Is
that a factor for Friday night for Anthony Joshua.
Speaker 2: No, I don't think so.
Speaker 5: I It's like I said again, is if he's got
what it seems like he's got left, if he's got
anything of his old ability left, he should walk through Paul.
So there should be no worry about the Fury fight.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 5: But I did see an interview with Fury, I'm surely
it will shit it of it online earlier today and
someone asked him about the fight and he said, I
thought it was going to happen this year and it
didn't happen. I thought it was going to happen on
this year as well, and it didn't happen this year
and this year and this year. And he said, to
be honest, I don't know if it's going to happen.
He said, I hope it does. But yeah, no, no, no,
I don't think that's going to be a factor at all.
Speaker 3: No, David, is it much of a subplot the Fury
fight hanging out there for this thing Friday night or
not a big deal.
Speaker 4: I think what this does is gives an amazing opportunity
for Joshua to smash someone in front of a massive
audience than to talk about Tyson Fury in the aftermath.
Whether that's officially on the network, Netflix platform or not,
I don't know. Heavens above, Tyson Fury could be in
the arena. All things are possible. As we said right
at the beginning, this is a carnival and anything's possible.
I just see this is a massive publicity exercise, a
bonus for Joshua is a massive payday without risk. And
he walks, as I say, through some of that PTSD
from the Dubois demolition that he suffered. So I hope
he actually fights again before he fights Fury because I'd
like that to be a really competitive fight. I know
that goes counter to your view, TJ, but I'd like
to see him in with someone in the top ten
in February March and see what he's got, because on
the evidence of the last one, he hasn't got a
lot left. It will be a bit of a it
will be a bit with command and fight. Both of
them have lost.
Speaker 3: I will put it this way because we already saw
Deontay Wilder take the loss on the Saudi card when
the match had been made by Turkey alask with Anthony Joshua.
There are a few guarantees in life. I will guarantee
you this. If Anthony Joshua is what we think he's
going to be Friday Night and wins, and wins convincingly,
let's even say he's not fighting anybody else before he
gets in the ring with Fury to take the risk,
I see zero chance of that.
Speaker 1: That's just me. I see zero chance of taking any
other risks.
Speaker 3: Go fight Fury after that, and if Fury fights another
tune up or whatever on his own.
Speaker 1: That's a risk too for him, But stay tune on that.
Speaker 3: Final thoughts anything else, Ricky Carroll Final thought here before
we do this. I know there's still some skepticism earlier
in the week if we do this, But if we
are doing this Friday night at the Cassea Arena, which
is the downtown Miami Arena, if we are doing this,
final thought on Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's a third round knockout, massive right hand.
I think everyone's talking about how amazing aj is and
like David said, I think everyone will start talking about
the Fury fight a little bit more after that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, third round knockout.
Speaker 3: Third round knockout prediction from him, David Paine. Final thoughts
do I get to pick out of you, mister boxing writer.
Speaker 4: I think a little quicker than that. It may get
to the third round, but if Joshua was still punching
him in the fourth, the world's upside down.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: But the one final thing I'd like to add slightly
takes his off topic, but on this Jake Paul Joshua card,
what a tremendous platform for all those female fires that
are on the Incline Dubois now added, it's not everybody's
favorite thing to watch, but there are some good fights
on that nd car with some good female fighters, and
Jake Paul needs some acknowledgement for what he's given here.
He's given a Netflix platform to women fires and that
should be huge for them.
Speaker 3: Amanda Serrano is one of those, one of the first
ones that attached with his promotion back three years ago,
and he made a commitment we are going to build
up the brand of women's boxing and pay them what.
Speaker 1: They are worth.
Speaker 3: And you're seeing that with all the fighters that have
aligned with them, and so you make a good point.
They're going to be showcased on the undercard. But everybody
is turning, is going to tune in to see what,
as I joked with Raphael, whatever this is, and how
long it goes again he folded you love my terminology,
He folded in Ganu in half in the middle of
the second round. It may not go that long, stay tuned,
and then the longer it goes, the more the suspicions
arise if it does go longer. But we're all going
to tune in to find out. Netflix on Friday Night
again Ricky, keep up the great job with managing the
site Big Fight Weekend dot com.
Speaker 1: I love having you on the pod. We'll do that again.
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks having me.
Speaker 1: Love it.
Speaker 3: David Payne, you do great work. Boxing writer dot co
dot uk is his site. Find him on Big Fight Weekend,
find him on Roundtable Sports is boxing coverage, Roundtable's boxing
site as well anything else.
Speaker 1: David Payin. Good to have you as always. Let's see
what happens Friday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's great to be back on the Big Fight
Weekend podcast. Yeah. Great to tell to you both and
look forward to it Friday for whatever it is.
Speaker 3: Let's see what happens on Friday again. Keep it locked
in here on the podfeed for more of the coverage.
Rayfield and I back with a preview later in the
week on the pod. Ricky's writing it up on Big
Fight Weekend dot Com. David Payne will write a word
or two about this. I have a feeling on his
site on Roundtable Sports etc. Thank you, gentlemen, great stuff.
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: There they go, Ricky, Carol and David Payne.
Speaker 3: I'm merely TJ Reeves follow Subscribe, Apple, Spreaker, Spotify. Where
we've been previewing for a little bit Here once more
the Jake Paul Anthony Joshuall fight coming Friday Night. Here
on the Big Fight we can preview pot