ORLANDO Fla. – Most Valuable Promotions CEO Nakisa Bidarian said it was “always the plan” for Jake Paul to fight lightweight titlist Gervonta “Tank” Davis in November, despite talk of a matchup with former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. However, he said the intent is for the latter contest to come to fruition early in 2026.
BoxingScene’s Matt Christie reported earlier today that, despite the Davis announcement, "negotiations continue” for Paul-Joshua for early 2026, and Bidarian confirmed that reporting.
“There are articles out there saying, ‘Oh, AJ, couldn't get done, so they decided to fight Tank.’ No. Tank has always been the plan for 2025,” Bidarian told BoxingScene on Thursday at the Caribe Royale in Orlando, where MVP will be staging back-to-back fight nights on Friday and Saturday.
According to Bidarian, Paul’s sequence of fights since facing 58-year-old Mike Tyson at AT&T Stadium in November has unfolded as a result of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez abandoning discussions for a fight with the YouTuber-turned-boxer in favor of signing a four-fight deal with Riyadh Season.
“Canelo was the initial plan,” explained Bidarian. “And once that didn't work out, we came to an agreement with Tank and his team very quickly on this opportunity. And from the outset, if you go back, when Jake came out regarding AJ, he said 2026. And Eddie [Hearn] said, ‘Oh, if you really want to do it, it should be 2025,’ and we said no; 2026 is the timing for this. That's when Jake will be ready. One, because Jake needs more time and more experience – the more, the better. But two, because we already had a fight planned for November of this year. It isn't like we just came up with an idea and went to Netflix. We've had this deal baked for a very long time.”
That said, the plan was nearly upended when Davis escaped with a draw against Lamont Roach Jnr in March, although Bidarian insisted that the result itself would not necessarily have been an obstacle to Paul and Davis facing off.
“There wasn't any requirement for him to win, lose or draw,” he said of Davis against Roach. “The potential spanner in the works was Tank coming to a decision: either, ‘Hey, I want to either run the rematch first’ or ‘Hey, I want to run what I had done with you.’ We understood. You feel like you got to go and make that [Roach result] more definitive? Sure. You feel like you want to do [the Paul fight] and then go and make that more definitive? Cool, too. Whatever you think is right.”
One of the loudest and most widespread condemnations of Paul-Davis has been the obvious and considerable weight disparity: Paul, a natural cruiserweight, most recently weighed 199½lbs for his unanimous decision win over Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr., which he took following the demise of the Canelo talks, and hit the scales at 227¼lbs for the Tyson matchup. Davis, in contrast, despite being a considerably more accomplished boxer, has never weighed as much as 140lbs as a professional.
Given what therefore seem like clear obstacles to the contest receiving official sanction, it has been widely assumed and reported that when Davis and Paul square off in Atlanta on November 14, it will be an exhibition. However, Bidarian cautioned that that has yet to be determined, as has the weight at which the bout would be contested.
“Jake will have to come down from cruiserweight, obviously,” he said.
“What I can say unequivocally, whether or not it is an exhibition, is that there will be a definitive outcome.”
Kieran Mulvaney has written, broadcast and podcast about boxing for HBO, Showtime, ESPN and Reuters, among other outlets. He presently co-hosts the “Fighter Health Podcast” with Dr. Margaret Goodman. He also writes regularly for National Geographic, has written several books on the Arctic and Antarctic, including most recently Arctic Passages: Ice, Exploration, and the Battle for Power at the Top of the World, and is at his happiest hanging out with wild polar bears. His website is www.kieranmulvaney.com.
