Anthony Joshua tipped the scales 27 pounds heavier than Jake Paul ahead of their highly anticipated showdown on Friday, Dec. 19, in Miami.
Joshua (28-4, 24 KOs) will face Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) in a professional eight-round heavyweight bout at Miami’s Kaseya Center, with the fight streaming on Netflix.
The two-time world heavyweight champion weighed in at 243.4 pounds Thursday afternoon, while the 28-year-old YouTuber-turned-boxer came in at 216.4 pounds. Joshua is reportedly 6 feet, 6 inches tall, while Paul is the shorter fighter at 6 feet, 1 inch. Joshua’s reach measures 82 inches, compared with Paul’s 76.
There was no rehydration clause, meaning Joshua could gain additional weight before the opening bell.
Paul, who has typically fought at cruiserweight during his career, will step up to heavyweight for this fight—the same division in which he faced the legendary Mike Tyson in November 2024, defeating the 58-year-old on points.
GettyMIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA – DECEMBER 18: Jake Paul faces off against Anthony Joshua during the weigh-in at The Fillmore Miami Beach on December 18, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images for Netflix)
Why Was Anthony Joshua Under a Weight Limit?
Joshua, 36, was limited to a maximum weight of 245 pounds.
Nakisa Bidarian, CEO of Most Valuable Promotions, Paul’s promotional company, told The Independent in late November that the limit was set for Paul’s safety, without outright saying it. He noted that fans were concerned about the matchup given Joshua’s reputation as a powerful knockout artist.
“I just didn’t want him to come in at 265lb, right?” Bidarian said. “Seriously, because Jake will have been cutting weight, he may walk in that night at 215lb.”
Joshua came under fire this week for telling Paul, “I can kill you, I will kill you.”
Joshua later clarified his comments, however, saying: “That’s my job, we fight. We have a license to kill. Many people don’t understand it, but this is what my job is.”
Paul has remained defiant ahead of his fight with Joshua, insisting he is the superior boxer and promising to secure a knockout victory in the later rounds.
Anthony Joshua Hasn’t Fought in 15 Months
On paper, Joshua holds nearly every competitive advantage, but unlike Paul, he comes in without any tune-up fights and has been managing injuries. He has not stepped into the ring professionally in almost 15 months, following a fifth-round knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024, and has since undergone elbow surgery.
Joshua had originally planned to fight on the David Benavidez vs. Anthony Yarde card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Nov. 27, but the opportunity to face Paul arose instead.
Joshua shared on his YouTube channel just days before the Paul fight that he had long recognized that, given the intensity of his training and his packed schedule, he would need a break from the sport, with the loss to Dubois serving as the catalyst.
“When you lose, you tend to take a deeper look at yourself and take time to figure out what went wrong,” Joshua said.
“I had to look at the reasons why I lost. And I said to myself: ‘I think I need a bit of time.’ I predicted this moment in 2018. Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot. I was moving at 100 miles-per-hour. 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. So it come to that stage really in 2025 where I thought: ‘You know what, I probably need a year out the game.'”
Anthony Joshua’s 245-Pound Weight Limit: Why There’s a Weight Clause Against Jake Paul