Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, is excited about the possibility of a fight between AJ and Jake Paul for early 2026. Hearn says there’s a “50-50” chance of the fight happening. He spoke with Jake’s manager, Nakisa Badarian, and he says they want the fight with Joshua.

Hearn says if Paul wants the Joshua fight, “it will happen.” It’s a perfect fight for Joshua, and exactly what he’s looking for. AJ wants the best-paying fights before he retires. Fighting Jake would take the cake financially.

Hearn Confirms Talks With Paul’s Manager

“I had a good chat for about an hour with Nakisa on [July 30], and now I believe they want the fight. I really do,” said Eddie Hearn to Ring Magazine about the conversation he had with Jake Paul’s manager, Nakisa Badarian, about putting together a fight between Anthony Joshua and Paul.

A fight against Jake Paul would give Joshua his best chance for a massive payday without a high degree of risk being involved. If AJ had it his way, he’d be fighting Tyson Fury for his next two to three fights, but the old ‘Gypsy King’ has resisted the idea of fighting him.

Fury is quite wealthy. So, he doesn’t need the fights against Joshua to make extra money to make his retirement years even more lavish.

Paul Believes He Can Win

“Nakisa was very honest, and he’s concerned about the fight, but Jake truly believes he can win the fight or at least be competitive in it. Now, because of the size of the fight, it leads me to believe there’s a very good chance it could happen.  It’s 50:50 [that it happens]. It was a very positive conversation, and we expect that conversation to extend over the coming weeks,” said Hearn. “If they really want it, it will happen.”

If the Joshua vs. Paul fight happens, it’ll likely be shown on Netflix and will be seen by countless millions of fans.