Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul traded heated words at the final press conference ahead of their fight in Miami as the Briton is 'carrying boxing on my back'.
Britain's two-time world heavyweight champion had a verbal exchange with the YouTube star and shared an intense face-off before their fight at Kaseya Center in the early hours of Saturday morning UK time.
Joshua is returning to the ring for the first time since a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2025 and insisted this isn't his "biggest payday", while Paul is having his 14th boxing bout following a points win over former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in June.
"With [Francis] Ngannou, I remember he beat up Tyson Fury over 10 rounds and somehow Fury got the decision," Joshua said.
"When I fought Ngannou, I knew there was a lot riding on it.
"With this one it feels like I'm being pulled in to save the purists of boxing because people don't like I'm fighting Jake.
"If we look at the people that don't want me to be here, but want me to put an end to 'the Jake Paul show', I understand it and that's why I carry boxing on my back with this fight."
Paul, who founded Most Valuable Promotions, however, disagreed and jumped to defend himself.
"No one has done more for the sport of boxing in the last decade than myself," Paul said.
"So if people cared about boxing they would want me to win.
"But I see the angle they're coming from in the sense he's been doing it all his life.
"But I think that I'm more important for boxing so if they cared about the sport they would want me to win."
Promoter Frank Warren confirmed on Monday that Tyson Fury has indicated he will return from retirement for a long-awaited British battle with Joshua, which is being targeted next summer.
But Warren, who represents Fury, admits Joshua will have to forget about plans for a blockbuster bout if he suffers a sensational loss to Paul.
"Well, if it does, he won't be fighting Tyson Fury, that's for sure," Warren told Your Site.
"Jake Paul has had 12 fights. He's never fought at this level, he's never fought at this weight at heavyweight and he's fighting a two-time world champion, former Olympic gold medallist who's still ranked in the top 10 despite his loss that he had against Daniel Dubois, his comprehensive loss against him.
"He should have too much - much, much too much - for Jake Paul and if he can't beat Jake Paul, we shouldn't even be talking about him fighting Tyson Fury."
At the age of 36, Joshua has admitted he needed to take a break from the sport after falling short in his attempt to become a three-time world champion following the fifth-round knockout defeat to Dubois at Wembley.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, 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' because I predicted this moment in like 2018. Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot.
"I was moving 100 miles an hour, inside training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing and for any man or any woman, at some stage, they probably need a bit of a reset.
"So it came to that stage, really, in 2025, where I was at the time and I thought, 'you know, I probably need a year out of the game."
"The question is, should Anthony Joshua fight Jake Paul? Who knows? But we're going to do it anyway."
