When Jake Paul fights Gervonta “Tank” Davis was canceled after the WBA lightweight champion's latest legal troubles surfaced.The social media influencer turned boxer was determined to find a new opponent before the end of 2025.
Several potential opponents were reportedly in the mix, but Paul has lined up a fight with former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and they will meet Friday at the Kaseya Center in Miami, live on Netflix.
“I didn't expect the Joshua fight to happen this year,” Paul told ESPN about his selection process. “But the plan was always to fight Gervonta Davis and then Anthony Joshua, so we did it early.”
But Paul revealed that he was very close to fighting three-division undisputed champion Terence Crawford instead of Joshua, with the only problem being coordinating their schedules.
“It was a lot like becoming Crawford rather than Joshua,” Paul said. “It really came down to timing and wanting to promote the Crawford fight properly. Maybe we'll do it in 2026 and coordinate the schedules because we were very close to making this fight happen. This is a big fight and when I beat Joshua it will be even bigger.”
Crawford was one of several fighters Paul told ESPN were on his updated “list of opponents” he wants to fight. He posted his first hit list on social media in 2021 and has fought six of his 12 desired opponents to date. Both Joshua and Crawford are on the updated hit list, but another name involved in the December fight that wasn't on his list was the former UFC heavyweight champion. Francis Nganno.
Ngannou was asked to face Paul shortly after the Davis fight fell through. However, Ngannou told TMZ that he refused and felt “disrespected” by the idea of getting into the boxing ring with Paul.
“It’s not about the numbers,” Ngannou said. “I'm not interested in this. It's pointless.”
Paul told ESPN he was “surprised” that Ngannou, who lost to Tyson Fury by split decision in October 2023 and was knocked out by Joshua in March 2024, he refused to fight him.
“I was definitely surprised, but fighters are not very smart people, especially Francis Ngannou,” Paul said. “When he sees me outperforming him against Joshua, he will be exposed for the idiot that he is. He messed it up and I think he realizes that now.”
Paul didn't want to look too far into the future with Joshua on the horizon, but he did discuss another name that was on his hit list: the UFC light heavyweight champion. Alex Pereira.
Pereira is the only MMA fighter on Paul's new list. However, he may be the hardest fight to get considering he's still under contract with the UFC and Paul still has a public beef with UFC CEO Dana White. However, with White set to begin boxing with Zuffa Boxing in 2026, there may be some hope that Paul-Pereira could eventually make it.
“[Dana being a boxing promoter] definitely makes this fight easier,” Paul said. “But I don’t know if the UFC will ever allow one of their MMA fighters to have a boxing match again. But I hope and would be delighted if it happened. But ultimately, I think losing one of their superstars against a Disney kid is bad for their business.”
