Jake Paul is indeed putting his money where his mouth is. After building a lucrative career for himself as a professional boxer by fighting either aging legends or opponents from various other sports, Paul shocked many within the combat sports space by inking a Dec. 19 Netflix bout against one of the premier heavyweights of this era: Olympic gold medalist and former champion Anthony Joshua. 

Joshua, 36, is one of the biggest names in worldwide boxing and just competed for the IBF heavyweight title against Daniel Dubois in his most recent bout in late 2024. Safe to say, he's a far cry from a 58-year-old Mike Tyson or a well-past-his-prime Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and the opening betting lines painted a stark picture of the type of risk Paul is taking — Joshua is already as high as a 14-to-1 favorite on some sportsbooks.

In his first public remarks since the fight was made official, the normally brash Paul even admitted Tuesday on his YouTube channel that he was "a little scared" of the challenge he's decided to undertake:

"You guys wanted me to go bigger? How about twice as big? Literally, he’s twice as big as Gervonta [Davis]. He's 6-foot-6, 260 pounds with an 82-inch reach. I mean, just look at us next to each other. Two-time heavyweight champion of the world. An Olympic gold medalist. While he was winning Olympic gold, I was filming Vines in high school. 'AJ' is a knockout artist with fights that have literally ended in seconds. He fought legends — [Wladimir] Klitschko, [Oleksandr] Usyk, [Andy] Ruiz, [Francis] Ngannou. I’m not going to lie, I’m a little scared. 

And yes, little Josh is signed to my enemy, Eddie Hearn. And I know Eddie and all of you naysayers are saying that I wouldn’t take this fight. Talk is cheap, my friends, but guess what? You’re not alone. My friends and family couldn’t even believe I was taking this fight.”

In the same clip, which he appropriately titled "This Is What You Wanted," Paul can also be seen telling his mother about the fight, prompting her to reply that she's "terrified" of what her son has signed up for.

Paul's bout with Joshua essentially came together on four-week notice following the cancellation of his planned Nov. 14 exhibition bout against WBA lightweight champion Gervonta Davis. 

The 5-foot-5, 130-pound Davis was always bizarre and controversial choice for a Paul opponent, and Paul's promotional company MVP ultimately pulled the plug on the bout just 10 days prior to fight night after new domestic violence accusations came to light against Davis from his ex-girlfriend.

Paul said Tuesday that Davis "fumbled the biggest bag of his career and ruined a relationship with the biggest streaming platform in the world." He also doubled down on his belief that he's about to shock the world and do the unthinkable: Knock out the much larger, more experienced Joshua.

“Here’s the truth: He had a past of many arrests and accusations, but everyone has a past. We accepted that. But when you bring the past into the present with domestic violence, you are out, period. The reality is Gervonta fumbled the biggest bag of his career and ruined a relationship with the biggest streaming platform in the world. 

Make no mistake, this is the biggest fight of my career. I’m walking into the lion’s den. I’m doing something that no one else has ever done before. I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock out, defeat and embarrass Anthony Joshua, Friday, Dec. 19, live on Netflix.”