Eddie Hearn has sent Jake Paul a warning to not pull out of his super-fight against Anthony Joshua next month.
The YouTuber-turned-boxer has agreed to face the 36-year-old in a sanctioned heavyweight contest at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on December 19.
Paul had previously been scheduled to face the WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis at the same venue earlier in November, but that fight was called off due to Davis’ legal troubles.
As such, a bout was arranged against Joshua, the two-time heavyweight world champion, who has not fought in 14 months.
The Briton last faced Daniel Dubois last year, losing his challenge for the IBF heavyweight title at Wembley Stadium in a brutal knockout defeat.
Now, Joshua makes his return to the ring in a controversial match-up against Paul, 28, who himself most recently took on Julio Chavez Jr in a cruiserweight fight back in June.
In the launch press conference earlier this month, Paul vowed that he was “ready to die” in his bid to “shock the world” against Joshua, but there has been growing cynicism online that the American could pull out of the agreement before fight night.
Hearn, Joshua’s promoter and president of Matchroom Boxing, insisted that Paul would not be able to boast that he was “signed to face Joshua” if he were to pull out weeks later.
“He can’t, because he [would have] pulled out of the fight,” Hearn told The Stomping Ground.
“Netflix and MVP [Most Valuable Promotions] have spent a lot of money. Jake would look like a plonker if he pulled out of the fight now after giving it the big one. He knows that. This fight is happening. If there was ever a good time to fight Anthony Joshua, it’s probably now.
“Coming out of 14 months of inactivity. He’s also been in training camp for four weeks. He’s having to make weight and maybe the confidence isn’t where it has been in his career.
“When you see the promos that have been shot for this, to pull out with all the money that’s been spent, and at squeaky-bum time, is not the way forward. I think Jake is game, and he believes he can win.”
Hearn said that Joshua was fully focused ahead of the December date, and that he would not let a single ounce of complacency creep into his camp.
“He’s not mucking around here,” Hearn said of Joshua.
“He’s not going to me, ‘Can you believe this guy? What a joker.’. He’s preparing himself for a real fight. I like that because every fight carries danger. This carries much less danger, in my opinion, than most of his recent heavyweight fights. If you go in there with the mentality of ‘I’m just going to walk through him’ and you don’t train properly, he’s got to make weight this time around.
“He’ll want to look good and do a job on him. A lot of people are talking about the weight of boxing on his shoulders. He’s taking this very seriously, and that’s a problem for Mr Paul.”
