ANTHONY JOSHUA has spoken with Jake Paul over a shock short-notice showdown.
Joshua, 36, was on a shortlist of fighters to face the social media sensation following Netflix‘s decision to pull the plug on his November 14 clash with Gervonta Davis.
And promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed the former two-time unified heavyweight king has spoken with The Problem Child – whom he’s already chatted to about a potential fight next year – about duking it out before year’s end.
The Matchroom Boxing chief told The Flash Knockdown podcast: “There’s been some conversations between myself and Nakisa.
“And I think Jake and AJ have spoken as well.”
Team AJ are keen to get the London 2012 gold medallist out before the end of the year.
And Hearn and Co. reckon it’d be a no-brainer for AJ to dust off the cobwebs with a lucrative crossover clash with the YouTube sensation.
The 46-year-old continued: “From our point of view, if we’re going to have a run-out fight, why not run out against Jake Paul for a lot of money?
“There’s ongoing conversations there. I can’t tell you it’s close, I can’t tell you we’ve seen a contract.
“But if he genuinely wants to fight Anthony Joshua, I don’t see why we wouldn’t have a chance to do that fight.”
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Joshua hasn’t set foot in the ring since his devastating fifth-round KO loss to Daniel Dubois at Wembley last September.
Defeat to Dubois has likely spelt the end of AJ’s hopes of becoming a three-time king of the heavyweights.
But according to Hearn, the Watford warrior hasn’t given up hope of following in the footsteps of boxing greats Muhammad Ali and Lennox Lewis and reclaiming the heavyweight throne.
Hearn said: “Our focus is really on a charge for the world heavyweight championship and a charge at Tyson Fury.
“We can’t control that either. [But] like I said, absolutely, at the moment, anything is possible.”
