STWF Sports | Nov. 25, 2025 – Anthony Joshua has spent his entire professional career as a true heavyweight—powerful, imposing, and rarely weighing below 245 pounds. But ahead of his shock crossover fight against Jake Paul on December 19, the former two-time unified world champion now faces one of the most unexpected challenges of his career: making weight.

The bout, already controversial due to the massive gulf in experience and pedigree between the fighters, comes with a contractual twist. Joshua must weigh no more than 245 pounds, a limit enforced by Paul’s team to level the playing field for the naturally smaller American star.

And with just three weeks to go, Joshua reportedly sits around 265 pounds, according to promoter Eddie Hearn. That means the British boxing icon will need to shed approximately 20 pounds—a steep cut for a heavyweight who has never had to manage strict limits.

Why the Weight Cap Exists

Paul, who has spent his career hovering between cruiserweight and bridged heavyweight exhibitions, has boxed professionally at heavyweight just once—when he weighed in at 227 pounds for his novelty bout against 58-year-old Mike Tyson last November.

Joshua, by comparison, has fought his entire career at heavyweight and typically enters the ring between 250 and 255 pounds.

Paul’s team acknowledged the physical disparity and insisted on the clause.

“Jake will weigh about 220 pounds, and we want AJ to come down in weight,” Hearn told BBC 5 Live. “He’s a heavyweight and hasn’t cut weight before… but they said they needed him at some disadvantage.”

Hearn even joked to Paul’s business partner Nakisa Bidarian that Joshua weighed 290 pounds—a bluff that did nothing to dissuade Paul’s camp from requesting the cap.

While Hearn pushed back on demands for “balloon gloves” and shorter rounds, he ultimately agreed to the 245-pound maximum, with the bout set for between five and eight rounds.

Has Joshua Ever Fought This Light?

The short answer: yes—but not in years.

Joshua has weighed below 245 pounds 17 times in his 28-4 career, mostly during his early rise to world championship status. However, he hasn’t been that light since his 2022 rematch with Oleksandr Usyk, when he came in at 244 pounds.

In recent outings, Joshua carried significantly more mass:

• 252 lbs vs Francis Ngannou

• 252 lbs vs Daniel Dubois

• 251 lbs vs Otto Wallin

Cutting back down to the mid-240s is hardly impossible for the 6’6” Brit, but doing it this quickly, and at this stage of his career, is new territory.

Given his current walk-around weight, Hearn suggested Joshua will likely end up making use of the sauna—something heavyweights almost never rely on.

What It Means for the Fight

On paper, Joshua remains a staggering favorite, even while cutting down. The gap in:

• power

• experience

• ring IQ

• resume

• athletic pedigree

…remains a gulf too wide for most analysts to see Paul overcoming.

But an extreme weight cut can bring new variables:

• Reduced power output

• Energy drain

• Water depletion affecting durability

• Lower gas tank in later rounds

Those are the precise vulnerabilities Paul’s team is looking to exploit.

A Crossroads Clash With High Stakes

For Joshua, this fight is less about legacy and more about global exposure and commercial value heading into a possible title run in 2026.

For Paul, it is the ultimate high-risk, high-reward challenge—victory would shock the sporting world and instantly reshape his credibility.

And now, with a steep weight cut added to the mix, Joshua’s path to the ring just became more complicated than expected.

The countdown to December 19 continues—and suddenly, the scale might be Joshua’s toughest early opponent.