Everything Joshua got told in those cold Finchley gyms was wrong. Simple as that. Pay your dues. Respect the craft. Keep your mouth shut.
Win belts the hard way. Wait your turn. All of it. Paul looked at the same rulebook and set fire to it on YouTube Live and made more money in four years than Joshua made in twelve. That is the part the old school cannot stomach.
Joshua started with nothing but a tracksuit and a dream. Paul started with twenty million followers and a camera. One road was freezing mornings, broken hands, Olympic trials, ten-rounders in leisure centres for five hundred quid.
The other road was Disney cheques, Vine clout, private jets to Puerto Rico and a boxing gym built in the backyard. Guess which road got you a Netflix main event against a two-time heavyweight king before you turned thirty?
They told Joshua you have to beat ranked heavyweights to earn a title shot. Paul beat washed UFC legends and still forced the biggest name in the division to sign. They told Joshua trash talk is cheap. Paul turned trash talk into a private jet.
They told Joshua you need fifteen years of graft to headline stadiums. Paul needed four and a laptop.
December 19th in Florida is not old school versus new school. It is proof the old school died and nobody sent the memo. Joshua was taught to reject fame without suffering. Paul grabbed the fame and made the suffering optional.
Joshua was taught the belts matter most. Paul proved the clicks matter more and the belts follow anyway.
Jake Paul represents everything Anthony Joshua was taught to reject
Joshua still lifts like the rent is due tomorrow because that is what they drilled into him. Paul lifts in front of a ring light and the sponsors pay the rent for life. One man is still trying to prove he belongs. The other man already sold the building.
They said reject shortcuts. Paul took every shortcut on the map and still ended up in the same ring as the man who took none. That is the joke the purists cannot laugh at. Joshua spent a decade being the perfect soldier.
Paul spent half that time being the perfect villain and now the soldier has to fight the villain for his last shred of relevance.
On December 19th the man who followed every rule gets to face the man who broke them all and still won. Joshua was taught to reject everything Paul stands for. Turns out the teachers were wrong. The student who ignored the lesson is about to give the final exam and the old professor has no idea the answers changed years ago.
Paul does not represent rebellion. He represents reality. The reality that the game moved while Joshua was busy being respectful.
The reality that the loud kid with the camera phone just rewrote the rules and the quiet kid with the Olympic pedigree has to live by them now. That is the cruelest punch of all and it lands long before the bell in Florida.
Some are rooting for Joshua — others for Paul — time will tell.
