With 33 million viewers, the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua boxing event followed Terence Crawford vs. Canelo Alvarez as Netflix’s second most-watched event of 2025. Its success is remarkable, considering that just months earlier, Paul and Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, Joshua’s promoter, were involved in a legal dispute.

However, cooler heads prevailed, and the two sides hammered out a settlement. The Paul–Joshua showdown shows that, in boxing, business often comes before personal disputes, even those tied to a $100 million defamation lawsuit. Hearn’s father believes both sides can move past the conflict and continue working together.

Barry Hearn addresses the dispute and future talks with Jake Paul

Barry Hearn reckons Jake Paul made an “expensive mistake” and that he has learned his lesson. Speaking with Rod Moore, the elder Hearn revealed the reasons why they had to take the drastic step of filing a lawsuit against another promoter.

“He said some very naughty things about us which weren’t true. He accused us of bribing judges and officials to get a result of a fight, and it was as direct as that. And so the referee sued him. We sued him. He lost. We sued him for $100 million,” Hearn said.

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The elder Hearn joked about lawsuits in America being for a round sum of a $100M, when in reality, the settlements are made for far less. In this case, he confirmed they settled for a figure “nowhere near close.” Matchroom had to accept a lower seven-figure payout that they put into their foundation, Hearn said.

What’s mattered more, however, is that they can shift attention forward. Citing the relationship between late promoter Mikey Duff and one of his fighters, former welterweight champion Lloyd Honeyghan, as an example, Barry Hearn said, “I don’t like him, but I don’t have to like him to manage him because it’s business.”

Given the success of the recent AJ fight, they look forward to more business with Jake. “No, we don’t have him. Nothing lost. A mistake was made. He’s paid. We move on,” he concluded. Hearn’s optimism follows the reports from multiple outlets back on April 1, 2025.

The Jake Paul-Eddie Hearn lawsuit, quickly explained

Eddie Hearn had dropped the $100 million defamation lawsuit he filed against Jake Paul after the two sides reached an agreement. The case filed in a New York court dates back to 2022, when Hearn decided to take the measure after Paul reportedly alleged in an interview that they had bribed a judge officiating the matches where Matchroom fighters participated.

Paul’s biggest issue was with the decision scored against his fighter, Amanda Serrano, who faced Katie Taylor at the historic Madison Square Garden.

Serrano lost the fight by a split decision. Speaking with iFL TV at the time, Paul claimed Serrano had won the fight. Turning his attention to one of the judges, he said, “Then you see how this judge, Glenn Feldman, who had the biggest gap between Taylor and Serrano. Everyone pretty much had it a draw… a draw or that Amanda won. But there’s this judge, Glenn Feldman, who scored it such a big gap for Taylor, gave rounds that Amanda clearly won, to Taylor.”

Apparently, Feldman officiated the rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua as well, which took place four months after Serrano vs. Taylor. Out of the three, Feldman was the only judge who awarded 115-113 in Joshua’s favor, against the remaining two who favored Usyk, thus leading to a split decision win for the Ukrainian.

To Jake Paul, that appeared like a “repeated crime.” “This type of s***, I’m going to call it out here in boxing because it’s bulls***. Clearly, this guy is getting paid money by Matchroom Boxing,” he said. His comments clearly angered Hearn and the veteran judge. While Hearn moved forward with a lawsuit claiming $100 million in damages, Feldman reportedly filed a separate case, it seems.