Look at the timeline. Every single time Anthony Joshua has been rattled before the first bell, he’s followed it with a nightmare inside the ropes.
Andy Ruiz in New York, 2019: Joshua spent fight week grinning, calling it “just another fight,” then got sparked in seven because the little fat guy got inside his skull. Usyk I and II: the quiet Ukrainian barely said a word, yet Joshua still boiled over, screaming at the crowd and snatching mics post-fight. Daniel Dubois at Wembley: Dubois called him “finished” on the mic, stared through him at the presser, and five rounds later Joshua was face-down tasting canvas. Pattern? Crystal clear.
When someone truly gets under his skin, AJ’s composure evaporates faster than sweat in Miami heat.
Enter Jake Paul, December 19, Kaseya Center, Miami, Florida, live on Netflix. Eight threes, big gloves, but the real fight starts the second Paul opens his mouth.
Anthony Joshua’s Mental Game Crumbles the Second Jake Paul Starts Talking
And Paul? He’s the undisputed heavyweight champion of mental warfare. He turned Nate Diaz into a meme factory, made Tyron Woodley tattoo “I love Jake Paul,” had Tommy Fury’s dad John raging on stage, and even got 58-year-old Mike Tyson snapping back at pressers. Paul doesn’t just trash-talk; he weaponises it.
Private jets, billboards, mock funerals, fake retirement announcements—he’s a one-man psychological ops unit. Joshua’s team knows this. Eddie Hearn knows this. Deep down, AJ knows this.
Watch the first face-off footage already leaking from Miami media day. Paul’s grinning, whispering, “I’m ending your career, bro.” Joshua’s jaw tightens, eyes darting, the same flicker we saw when Dubois called him old and slow.
That’s the crack. Paul smells blood in the water and he’s going to keep pouring salt until the wound festers. Expect daily Instagram skits: Paul wearing an AJ mask getting knocked out by a cardboard cut-out, Paul holding a mock funeral for “British heavyweight boxing,” Paul walking around Miami with a coffin labelled “AJ’s legacy.” Every post lands like a jab to the body.
Joshua’s response so far? The forced smile, the “I’m focused on the task” lines. Same script he used before Dubois. Same script that crumbled when the lights went on. Paul’s already in his head rent-free, and the fight’s still two weeks away.
By the time they touch gloves on December 19, Joshua will have watched a hundred viral clips of himself being humiliated. His corner will tell him to stay calm.
His body will remember Wembley. His mind will remember Paul’s voice.
Jake Paul doesn’t need to be the better boxer on the night; he just needs to be the better mind-f***. And right now, he’s winning that war by knockout. One smirk, one meme, one perfectly timed soundbite at a time. When the bell rings in Florida, Joshua won’t just be fighting Paul’s right hand.
He’ll be fighting every demon Paul planted in his head for the last six months. And history says when AJ’s mind goes, the body follows—straight to the canvas.
Mark it: December 19 isn’t a boxing match. It’s a public execution of whatever mental armour Joshua has left. Paul’s already won the fight that matters most.
The rest is just theatre.
