Jake Paul Dismisses Boxing Purists: ‘Can’t Be That Pure If They Don’t Go to Church Every Day’
The boxing establishment has long questioned Jake Paul’s legitimacy. With his December 19 matchup against Anthony Joshua looming at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Paul responded to these doubters by suggesting they don’t actually exist.
Jake Paul Dismisses Boxing Purists
Speaking ahead of the fight, Paul addressed the recurring criticism from so-called boxing purists. “I’m not even sure who the boxing purists are. Like, where are they? You know, like who are these people that we talk about and how pure are they? They can’t be that pure if they go to church every day. I don’t know, brother.”
He then pushed the argument further, claiming the concept of purists opposing him was nothing more than myth. “I don’t know who they are or where they are. They don’t exist. It’s like this peanut gallery that doesn’t exist. ‘Oh, Jake’s not good, Jake’s not good for boxing.’ Like, bro, who, where are these people?”
Rather than engaging with their issues, he’s moved to questioning their existence entirely. At 28 years old and fighting for five years and ten months as a professional, Paul has built a 12-1 record with seven knockouts. His progression from social media celebrity to sanctioned fighter culminated in a November 2024 bout against 58-year-old Mike Tyson that broke Netflix viewership records.
Joshua presents a genuinely different challenge. The 36-year-old former two-time heavyweight champion holds a 28-4 professional record with 25 knockouts, though he has faced recent struggles. His September 2024 loss to Daniel Dubois ended in a fifth-round knockout at Wembley Stadium, a particularly brutal defeat that left many questioning whether his comeback trail had hit a dead end. Yet here he stands.
The weight limit of 245 pounds matters here. Joshua has exceeded 250 pounds in his last five fights, while Paul weighed 227 pounds for his Tyson bout and 200 pounds against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in June 2025. This disparity becomes the physical manifestation of the divide between these two fighters.
The boxing community’s skepticism stems from legitimate sources: Paul’s opponents have largely been either MMA athletes or retired fighters years removed from competition. His sole professional loss came via split decision to Tommy Fury in February 2023.
Paul’s strategy has been to out-talk this doubt, to make it seem so unreasonable that addressing it would lend it credibility. Whether that approach survives contact with Joshua’s experience and power remains to be seen when the two meet on December 19.
