Despite his many naysayers, Anthony Joshua has been urged to take a lucrative fight with Jake Paul next — for the sheer spectacle of the clash.
Continually linked with a pairing against the controversial Jake Paul, former two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua appears to be gearing up for a return fight with the Ohio native.
And coming under fire for his links to a pairing with Paul, Joshua has found himself under the kosh from his fellow heavyweight stars.
But a former world champion boxer-turned-analyst has urged Joshua to accept a fight with Paul, in a bid to land himself a sizeable payday.
Andy Lee gushes over potential Anthony Joshua, Jake Paul fight
Seemingly all up for a pairing of Joshua and the outspoken Paul, former WBO middleweight champion-turned trainer Andy Lee has suggested the pairing would be a massive spectacle.
As far as he’s concerned, the question of “legacy” is likely reserved for boxing purists in the sport nowadays, urging Joshua to feature in one of the most-viewed sporting events of recent memory.
“If I got offered to fight Jake Paul, I’d probably do it as well,” Lee told Boxing News. “Do people really care about legacy these days? Or the integrity of the sport?
“It would be the most watched thing in the world, wouldn’t it?” Lee continued. “Anybody who was in that position would do it if they could, I think. So you can’t really criticize him. …”
But to earn that moniker as one of the most digested sporting events of all-time, Joshua and Paul have some big names to beat in that race.
The biggest boxing match of all time
Easily laying claim to that title is the late former heavyweight world champion Muhammad Ali, who is said to have brought in a staggering 162 million pay-per-view sales during his time in the ring.
Beaten out by the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, as well as the funerals of Michael Jackson, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Diana, Ali is reported to have attracted an earth-shattering 2 billion viewers for his rematch fight with Leon Spinks.
Facing off with Spinks in a re-run back in 1978 at the turn of the pay-per-view era in boxing, Ali took home his final career victory with a unanimous decision triumph at an event billed as the Battle of New Orleans.