ANTHONY JOSHUA has finally addressed his loss to Daniel Dubois for the first time since the brutal knockout 14 months ago.
The former two-time world heavyweight champion had the chance for a third reign in front of a sell-out Wembley crowd in September 2024, but was decisively knocked out in the fifth round.
The 36 year old faced the music in the post-fight press conference, but has laid relatively low ever since.
Not many fight fans would have predicted AJ would return to the ring against Jake Paul, but this Friday that’s exactly what the Brit will do as he fights on American soil for only the second time in his career, hoping for a better result than his first clash with Andy Ruiz Jr in 2019.
Speaking on his YouTube channel – which has a paltry 775k subscribers compared to Paul’s 20 million – Joshua addressed why he had to take a year out after such a crushing loss.
Joshua said: “I always say this: For every time you win there is a reason. For every time you lose, there is a reason.
“So… Why I pause is, when you lose you tend to take a deeper look at yourself. Take time to figure out what went wrong. I had to look at the reasons why I lost and I said to myself ‘I think I need a bit of time.’”
Although AJ hasn’t been half as active in the second half of his career, his commitments outside of the ring like 258 Management and 258 Ventures have made him exponentially busier.
As his profile grew, he knew he could only burn the candle at both ends for so long.
Joshua said: “I predicted this moment in… 2018? Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot.
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“Inside training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing – for any man or any woman, at some stage they probably need a bit of a reset.
“I came to that stage really in 2025 where it was that time. I thought ‘you know what, I think I need a year out of the game.’
“The question is: Should Anthony Joshua fight Jake Paul? Who knows? But we’re gonna do it anyway.”
With a reported £70m heading his way, Joshua had every incentive to take a fight at this stage of his career with what should be minimal risk considering the CVs.
AJ is an Olympic gold medallist and two-time world champion. Paul’s biggest win is over a 58-year-old Mike Tyson and his sole loss came against Tommy Fury at cruiserweight.
But there is every suggestion Joshua is taking this battle seriously. After switching between a litany of trainers since splitting from Rob McCracken in 2021, AJ has enlisted the help of Oleksandr Usyk‘s team and taken his training camp to Valencia.
Should everything go according to plan for Joshua, he will finally collide with Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia this time next year.
Fury will be prized out of retirement – for a fourth time – for a warm-up fight early next year where Joshua is also expected to compete.
Barring any catastrophes in those bouts, the pair will then finally collide five years on from first agreeing to do so.
Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua – all the info
A true Christmas miracle!
The world will stand still THIS FRIDAY as the face of British boxing, Anthony Joshua, is all set to go up against social media sensation Jake Paul.
AJ steps in on a month’s notice after Paul’s ‘David vs Goliath’ Gervonta Davis clash was axed due to Tank’s civil suit case.
And Joshua will be desperate not to suffer the same fate as legends Mike Tyson and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, who both lost to YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul.
Particularly as a handsome figure was negotiated to get this Judgement Day deal over the line due to AJ’s DAZN contract.
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