Anthony Joshua has been told that stepping into the ring with Jake Paul would be "five times bigger" than a proposed fight with former heavyweight champion of the world Tyson Fury. Joshua hasn’t fought since September last year when he was knocked out by IBF heavyweight title holder Daniel Dubois.

Paul and mooted opponent Joshua have been involved in a mini war of words after the former called out the latter during a recent YouTube video. Speaking on his series, BS w/ Jake Paul, the American proudly mused: “I want to fight Anthony Joshua because I know I will f***ing beat Anthony Joshua's a**.”

Joshua hasn’t moved to shut down the speculation, instead, the former Olympian added fuel to the fire when he posted an Instagram story teasing the possible bout. Sharing a screenshot of a phone call with Paul, Joshua captioned the picture with an eagle, two clenched fists and a shushing emoji, with the caption reading: “@jakepaul 2026.”

What’s more, Paul’s co-promoter, Nakisa Bidarian, has since labelled a potential Joshua vs Paul billing as one of the biggest things his client would’ve ever done in their career. Speaking to The Sun: “Ultimately Jake versus Joshua is three, four or five times bigger than Joshua versus Fury, easily. Not in the UK, the UK I think they're similar.

"But on a global basis, it's not even in the realm of the same conversation in terms of magnitude, scale, reach, interest, viewership, it would just blow it away. Joshua and Fury are not relevant in the US, meaning the hardcore boxing community will pay attention, but it's not a moment where mainstream culture stops and pays attention to it. In the UK, absolutely but you'll have that with Jake and Joshua as well."

Not everyone has been convinced about the validity of these rumours though, with fellow promoter Eddie Hearn recently describing the social media exchanges as nothing more than a publicity stunt. However, Bidarian insists the pair’s camps have been in contact about a face off.

He added: "I won't get into what they discussed, but yes, I'm fully aware of the multiple conversations they've had and a desire to fight each other in 2026. I saw Eddie Hearn made a comment around 'Why 2026? Why not in 2025? It's just clickbait.' No, it's not clickbait.

"Jake realises he needs some more in-ring experience to be in the best position to hold his own against Anthony Joshua. So we're not rushing into a fight against Joshua. We're not financially dependent on Jake having a fight against Anthony Joshua for 2025 for our business to flourish.”