Frank Warren: Anthony Joshua Must Dazzle Against Jake Paul to Keep Tyson Fury Fight Alive!

ANTHONY JOSHUA has been told to forget about ever fighting Tyson Fury unless he does a number on Jake Paul.

AJ has landed on boxing’s biggest no-brainer of all time after the incredibly confident or dangerously deluded Paul

Anthony Joshua has been told to forget about ever fighting Tyson Fury unless he beats Jake PaulCredit: PA Fury is still yet to come out of retirementCredit: PA

It will be Joshua’s first bout back since his disastrous September 2024 knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in five rounds.

AJ is still expected to fight in Riyadh in February – per Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh’s plans.

But Frank Warren – who will be tasked with negotiating Fury’s return to the ring – says still has to avoid perhaps boxing’s biggest ever banana skin.

Warren told SunSport: “If he doesn’t beat Jake Paul, then forget about fighting Tyson, that just is never gonna happen, is it?

“It’s how he beats him, if he beats him. And the thing about AJ, he’s coming off a significant loss.

“I mean, five or six times he was on the floor in that fight. It was a tough, tough fight for him, tough night.

“Tyson will only do what he wants to do. Tyson will fight when the money’s right and if he feels the opponent’s right. That’s how he’s always been.

“As regarding AJ, he’s not somebody who’s gonna have his career, his life, determined by another fighter. He will make the choices that he wants to make.

“And AJ just needs to come through that fight if that fight’s to take place.”

Fury, 37, announced his latest retirement in January which came a month after the second of his two points losses to Oleksandr Usyk, 38, last year.

But he has continued to tease a return in 2026 – with Alalshikh also revealing plans for an event in Manchester before the summer.

And Warren said: “It would make it make a lot of sense for him to come back and get the cobwebs out of his out of his system and we’ll see.

“And again that’ll all be part of the negotiations and see where we go with that.”

For Joshua, 36, he steps in to fight Paul, 28, on just a month’s notice with the pair to split an incredible prize pot of close to £100MILLION.

Paul was left looking for a replacement after Gervonta Davis, 30, was pulled from their November 14 exhibition amid domestic abuse allegations.

, the two-time heavyweight world champion who weighs over 18 STONE.

The bout will be contested over eight three-minute rounds, with 10oz gloves but

Paul – who campaigns in the 14st 4lb cruiserweight division of 200lb – meanwhile is 12-1 with his only loss coming against Fury’s brother Tommy.

Hall of Famer Warren promoted that bout in Saudi Arabia, which Love Island star Fury, 26,

Warren said: Look, AJ’s a massive, massive favourite for the fight.

“Jake Paul’s been accused in the past of picking easy opponents, despite the fact he’s not got any amateur pedigree as such.

“He’s a professional boxer, he does train, he trains hard and he works hard. This is a big step up for him, a massive step up.

“He was going to fight Gervonta before this, look at that weight disparity. So he’s gone from one to the other.

“He’s a cruiserweight going in with a two-time world champion, Olympic gold medallist who’s a puncher. That’s a tough ask.

“It’s a real tough ask, but it’ll do massive business. He’s a big name in America, Jake. He’s got a fantastic phenomenal following.

“AJ doesn’t mean as much in America as Jake does, but obviously over here AJ’s has a massive following. Me, I can’t see any other winner than AJ to be quite honest.”

Jake Paul fights AJ on December 19Credit: AFP