Joe Rogan has never been one to mince words when it comes to combat sports, and his recent comments about the upcoming Jake Paul versus Anthony Joshua bout have surprised through the boxing community.
During a conversation on The Joe Rogan Experience with Chris Williamson, the podcast host delivered an assessment of what he expects from the heavyweight clash. He also talked about what it will look like if Joshua doesn’t bring his usual power.
He said: ” I don’t think there’s any chance in the world knowing what Anthony Joshua is a specialist at. He’s a specialist at putting knuckles through your f**king brain, you know, and that’s what he’s going to try to do to Jake Paul. ”
“Anything other than that if from a 34-year-old Anthony Joshua will make us all think it’s a fixed fight,” Rogan stated.
The UFC commentator and lifelong combat sports enthusiast made it clear that Joshua must come out swinging with the intent to knock Paul out, or the entire bout will appear suspicious to fans and critics alike.
The matchup itself is one of the most controversial in recent boxing memory. Jake Paul, the YouTube star turned boxer, has built a career competing against mostly MMA fighters past their prime and smaller opponents.
His most notable boxing match against Tommy Fury ended in his only professional loss. Now he’s stepping up to face Anthony Joshua, a 6’6″ former unified heavyweight champion with devastating knockout power and an Olympic gold medal on his resume.
Rogan didn’t hold back when describing the physical mismatch. “You take a guy who just had a boxing match that looks like a sparring match with a 58-year-old Mike Tyson and then you’re gonna fight one of the absolute scariest knockout artists in the heavyweight division,” he said, referencing Paul’s recent exhibition with the aging legend.
During the podcast, Rogan and Williamson reviewed footage of Joshua’s knockout of Francis Ngannou, where the British star demonstrated the type of power that has made him one of the most feared punchers in heavyweight boxing. The finish showed Joshua landing a perfectly timed right hand that left Ngannou unconscious before he hit the canvas.
“Watch this,” Rogan said as they analyzed the knockout. “I mean, just steps into it with every ounce of his body. Perfect right hand.” The fight lasted only two rounds, with Joshua showcasing the technical skill and raw power that has defined his career.
The reported purse for the Paul-Joshua bout is staggering, with sources citing approximately $92 million for each fighter from a total prize pool of $184 million. But Rogan pointed out that Joshua has even more at stake than the immediate payday. If he loses to Paul, he could jeopardize future mega-fights with the likes of Tyson Fury, which could be worth $200 million or more through Saudi Arabian backing.
“If he loses this fight, he misses out on that Saudi money,” Rogan explained, emphasizing the broader financial implications for Joshua’s career. The pressure on the former champion to not just win, but to win convincingly and brutally, couldn’t be higher.
Rogan’s central thesis is simple: Anthony Joshua is a specialist at one thing—devastating knockouts. At 34 years old, standing 6’6″ and weighing around 250 pounds, Joshua represents everything Jake Paul has avoided throughout his boxing career.
The podcast host emphasized that Joshua has survived twice against Oleksandr Usyk, widely considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers alive and possibly the best heavyweight of this generation. That experience alone puts Joshua in a completely different category than anyone Paul has faced.
