ANTHONY JOSHUA could bank himself a whopping £100MILLION to fight Jake Paul and break pay-per-view records.
YouTube star Paul brazenly called out two-time heavyweight world champion AJ on his podcast.
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And Joshua appeared to quite literally call the prankster-turned-prizefighter’s bluff by phoning him up.
Promoter Eddie Hearn revealed Joshua is on board for the mega-money fight – and threw down the gauntlet to Paul.
Hearn told SunSport: “I spoke to AJ shortly after and I mean, look, we don’t own the world heavyweight championship anymore. We’re not chasing undisputed.
“That’s always been the dream and will remain the dream until the career ends, but at the same time, we haven’t even got an opponent.
“So when Jake Paul comes out and you know you’re gonna make £100million to fight Jake Paul, obviously like any man with a brain would go, ‘Oh, OK, line it up.’
“All Jake looks at is the money. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Jake did it, honestly, because I think he likes a challenge, but he likes the money.”
Paul is has 11 wins and only one loss as a boxer, coming via split-decision to Tommy Fury, 25, in 2023.
His most recent bout was an eight-round points win over heavyweight great Mike Tyson, 58, in November.
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The fight was marred in controversy amid the age gap but still a massive 100 MILLION tuned in to watch on Netflix.
And Hearn teased smashing any kind of PPV record if Paul truly did accept a fight with AJ.
His box office estimations where: “In the UK two million. In America, two million.
“I mean, probably a 10 million pay-per-view fight. But you know, Father Christmas only comes once a year.
“But if we ever got that fight, you know it’ll be a dual visit.”
Floyd Mayweather’s 2015 blockbuster with Manny Pacquiao currently holds the PPV record with 4.4m buys.
And his 2017 crossover fight with UFC superstar Conor McGregor was not far behind with 4.3m.
Father Christmas only comes once a year. But if we ever got that fight, you know it’ll be a dual visit.
Eddie Hearn on Anthony Joshua vs Jake Paul
Paul, 28, is yet to return since victory over Tyson and saw a May mega-fight in Las Vegas with Canelo Alvarez, 34 collapse.
Canelo pulled out of talks at the 11th hour to instead sign a four-bout deal with Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh
Joshua, 35, is coming off a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois, 27, in September and his return to the ring has been backdated amid an injury.
But he weighed 252.5lb (18st) while Paul had to bulk up to 227lb (16st 2lb) for his Tyson fight – meaning there is still TWO STONE between them.
And Hearn admitted he did not reach out for talks with Paul’s camp amid the surprise back-and-forth.
He said: “Once they said 2026, it’s just clickbait at that point.
“I do acknowledge that Jake is crazy enough, like the Canelo stuff was quite crazy.
“But at least Jake’s bigger than Canelo. He’s dwarfed by AJ in every manner.”
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