Deontay Wilder offers surprising reaction to Anthony Joshua’s fight with Jake Paul

While Wilder vs Joshua has long eluded fans, ‘AJ’ is due to fight YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul this month

Deontay Wilder has said he is not offended by Anthony Joshua’s upcoming fight with Jake Paul, a bout that has proved divisive among boxing fans.

On 19 December, former heavyweight champion Joshua will fight Paul, a YouTuber-turned-boxer, in a professional contest in Miami. The bout is scheduled for eight three-minute rounds, in regular 10oz gloves, with knockouts allowed.

The fight marks Joshua’s first outing since September 2024, when he was dropped several times en route to a brutal defeat by Daniel Dubois. And while some fans hoped that “AJ” might fight finally British rival Tyson Fury next, Joshua was paired with American Paul instead.

Another fight that fans have long dreamed of seeing is Joshua vs Wilder, a match-up that came particularly close to fruition in 2023. Both men fought on the same card in Saudi Arabia, with Joshua stopping Otto Wallin but Wilder losing to Joseph Parker. If Wilder had beaten Parker, he would have fought Joshua in 2024.

Addressing Joshua’s upcoming fight with Paul, former heavyweight champion Wilder told The Action Network: “If people want to see things and they’re willing to pay the money to see it, then hey, why not?

“It is what it is. These are the times and the generation that we’re living in. Of course, you got these guys [influencers] coming in and they do a hell of a job of marketing themselves, bringing fights.

“It draws attraction, it draws attention. If you can build a system where you can fight anybody and hype it up to make it where people buy it, then there you go. You got what you're looking at. To the overall masses of people that are looking at it, of course it’s entertaining to them.

Deontay Wilder during his knockout loss to Zhilei Zhang in 2024 (Getty)

“They’re gonna look for a fight, they wanna see knockouts, they wanna see all that. But for an average fighter that knows the ropes and knows how hard it is to get to certain levels and stages... they’re all mad. They’re mad, they’re mad, and I understand. I totally understand, because I’m one of those creations that started from the absolute bottom.”

While Wilder made the point that fans are seemingly willing to “buy” fights like Joshua vs Paul, the contest will actually stream live on Netflix – which has an estimated 300m subscribers – rather than playing out on pay-per-view like most big-time boxing matches.

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Wilder also addressed the question of whether Joshua, 36, is hurting his own legacy by facing Paul, 28.

“It’s all about how they advertise and promote this thing,” said Wilder. “If [Joshua] goes in and promotes like this is the opportunity of a lifetime, to get to a title fight or something like that... this is not a qualification for that. And then he ends up losing, getting knocked out or something? It is gonna hurt his legacy.

“If he goes in there and gets knocked out in a dramatic way or something like that, it will hurt his legacy. That’s something that people are always gonna go back [to] and look at the highlight reel.

Jake Paul (left) staring up at Anthony Joshua during their launch press conference (Getty)

“So, I see it where it could hurt his legacy, because at the end of the day, people only remember the last thing you’ve done. We live in a world of ‘what have you done for me lately?’ But he can recover from that, though, go on and do great things after that. It is all about him and what he does from there.

“I just look at these opportunities [as] just fun – fun opportunities for the masses of the fans – and a money grab. That’s all I look at it as.”

Wilder also insisted that a fight with Joshua has not escaped fans forever, just as AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn has said that Joshua vs Fury could happen in 2026.

“I go off of how I feel, my energy of things,” said Wilder. “That’s why I speak, ‘cause of what I feel. Even when you said that, I don’t feel like people would use [Joshua vs Paul] and stop [my fight with Joshua] from happening, or have some type of excuse. I don’t think so. I wouldn’t think so at all. I think they’ll wanna see anyway.”

Wilder last fought in June, stopping Tyrrell Anthony Herndon to get back on track after back-to-back losses to Parker, who outpointed Wilder, and Zhilei Zhang, who stopped the American.