Matchroom CEO Frank Smith says a contest between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul is still a possibility for early 2026, despite Wednesday’s announcement that cruiserweight Paul will tackle lightweight Gervonta Davis in a bizarre exhibition event on November 14 in Atlanta. Less likely for Joshua, said Smith, is Tony Yoka, the French boxer widely reported as being in the running to face the former world heavyweight titlist.
“There is still talk about [Joshua fighting Paul] in the early part of next year,” Smith told BoxingScene. “The discussions about the Jake Paul fight were always into next year, I think they [Paul] were always talking about doing a fight before [Joshua] and that was always the plan – February, March was the focus [for Joshua-Paul]. They spoke about having other fights before then.”
Smith’s claims are backed up by Team Paul, namely MVP’s Nakisa Bidarian, who posted Thursday: “Jake vs Tank was always the plan for 2025 and discussions for Jake vs Joshua has always been for first half of 2026 and those negotiations continue.”
Whether the plans for Davis make it to fruition, Smith wasn’t so sure. Paul weighed 227lbs for his November 2024 clash with an ancient Mike Tyson and 199lbs for his June drubbing of Julio Cesar Chavez Jnr – which compare ludicrously to Davis’ highest weight of 139lbs when he halted Mario Barrios in 2021. Furthermore, Wednesday’s press release about Davis-Paul revealed nothing in terms of finer details – number of rounds, length of rounds, agreed weight limits, or the size of gloves.
“It’s interesting,” Smith said. “They’ve announced it, but the weight isn’t agreed, none of the details have been agreed, so it’s not really agreed. You can imagine there will be some stumbling blocks, particularly with the disparity in weight between those two.”
There are whispers that a major commission ruled out the possibility of Joshua-Paul, but Smith, who insists they did not approach the British Boxing Board of Control about sanctioning such a bout, remains confident it could be staged in America.
“The reality is that it wouldn’t be in the UK, it would be either in the US or Saudi,” Smith said. “It was never talked about being in the UK. I highly doubt the Board would sanction that fight but in certain states in the US, they would. From a pay-per-view perspective, there is a huge market for that fight in that time zone. People in the UK would wake up to watch that fight.”
Smith was recently seen in Accra, Ghana, where he was exploring various opportunities for both Matchroom and Joshua, who has long courted the idea of fighting in Africa. Smith explained that Tony Yoka, widely reported as a potential comeback opponent for Joshua, was not part of those discussions.
“Not Tony Yoka,” said Smith. “I’m not sure where that has come from, though I know he posted about it. The trip to Accra was always about talking about a potential AJ fight – against anyone – or a longer-term partnership between us and AJ in regard to growing the sport in Ghana and broadly across Africa. Don’t get me wrong, Yoka could be an opponent, but there has been no discussions about him.
“AJ is still in the driving seat and he’s ready to go. The Jake Paul fight is still a huge fight.”
