MIAMI— If reality hadn’t set in yet, then it would have the moment Jake Paul stepped to center stage to face off with Anthony Joshua.

Paul, who is no featherweight at 6’1”, came face-to-chest with the 6’6” former heavyweight champion Joshua on Friday. He locked eyes with a former unified heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist who has seen every style imaginable and didn’t betray the slightest hint of awe at the magnitude of the event. “My neck started to hurt after looking up for a little bit,” Paul joked, after his “surreal” staredown with Joshua.

In Jake Paul’s sui generis boxing career, the scales have usually been tilted in his favor. The sleight of hand has rarely been hard to identify. Nate Robinson? Basketball player. Tyron Woodley, Anderson Silva and Nate Diaz? Older MMA fighters from lower weights. Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr? Probably shouldn’t have been licensed. His one defeat came against Tommy Fury, a reality star more than he is a pro boxer, but a seasoned if limited boxer nonetheless.

With Anthony Joshua, it’s not as apparent what Paul could be seeing that he feels could give him an advantage in their fight, which is set for December 19 at Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida and will stream on Netflix. Joshua, 28-4 (25 KOs), is just one fight and 14 months removed from a heavyweight title fight, which he lost by fifth round knockout to Daniel Dubois. While that was a punishing loss, Joshua had won four straight at that point, and was seen as the best heavyweight in the world beneath the titleholders.

At 36, he has some wear and tear on him from a 12-year pro career, and he underwent elbow surgery after the Dubois loss, but says he has been cleared for competition for the past eight months. There is a 245lbs catchweight limit for this fight, but that’s a weight that Joshua had usually fought under during the first half of his career, and there’s no rehydration clause for after they step off the scale.

Ask Jake Paul, and he’ll tell you that his advantage is about styles, not tricks. He says that, while Joshua is a lights out puncher, he will be faster, be at angles, and keep his head off the center-line to avoid the big shot that could out his lights.

“I think it's watching his Dubois fight, watching the Ruiz fight, even watching the Usyk fights. And when you look at it, he's lost to guys who are smaller than him. I think it's his weakness. His kryptonite is the faster guys who don't get hit by his big punches,” said the 28-year-old Paul, 12-1 (7 KOs).

Perhaps this was always the end-game for the Disney Channel star turned social media provocateur, a put-up or shut-up showdown with a respected, dangerous fighter. Or perhaps Paul just feels he’s bullet-proof and can rebound from a loss, as long as it provides the spectacle his audience craves.

Odds for the eight-round heavyweight fight have run as wide as -1100 for a Joshua win and +650 for a Paul win, which could work one of two ways. For Joshua, it would seem like a relatively easy payday, but fruition of disaster’s remote possibility could prove utterly disqualifying. For Paul, with most people thinking he’s foolish for making this fight, even a loss by points would be seen as a moral victory.

An outright victory? An upset on par with Tyson-Douglas, says Paul. A win over a respected, if flawed, fighter the likes of Joshua would legitimize Paul in the eyes of everyone but his most hardened detractors, and would be the credentials by which he could skate through the sport for years to come.

Paul believes the pressure is far more on Joshua than it is on himself.

“This is something that's going to weigh on him, right?” said Paul. “I’m going in there, I can fight free. If he starts getting touched up and losing rounds, I think the cookie will crumble.”

Joshua, despite his obvious edges in skill, power, size and experience, says he isn’t overlooking the challenge that Jake Paul brings.

“He's been professional now, what, four years? After three years, I was the underdog and no one believed in me - I came up fighting the best in the world. You can't underestimate anyone,” said Joshua.

That isn’t to say Joshua isn’t confident in what will happen on December 19.

“I’m going to break his face. I’m going to break his body up. I’m going to stomp all over him,” said Joshua.

Joshua, who says he will be training with the Oleksandr Usyk team for this fight, has already dusted off one heavyweight interloper, MMA fighter Francis Ngannou, whom Joshua dispassionately separated from his senses in just two rounds in March of 2024. Anything other than that being the outcome in this fight will be seen as an extreme letdown.

For Paul? There will be those whom he will never win over, but even they will have to begrudgingly applaud him if he manages to exceed expectations. 

“People say, ‘Oh, I respect Jake Paul for getting in there.’ No, respect me because I'm about to win,” said Paul.