If Anthony Joshua thinks the fight with Jake Paul will be like taking candy from a baby, then he might as well listen to Shakur Stevenson. The lightweight champion, who recently sparred with the YouTuber-turned-fighter, believes perceptions of Jake Paul’s boxing skills are largely misleading.

Just three days separate Joshua from a momentous meetup with Paul. The latter has vowed to stage the greatest upset in boxing since Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson. Putting money where his mouth is, Jake Paul has been sparring with well-known heavyweight contenders. Still, many believe the charade that kicked off five years ago may finally come to an end when he steps in against Anthony Joshua. Shakur Stevenson, however, disagrees.

Shakur Stevenson’s reality check on Jake Paul’s doubters

Dismissing Paul’s skills, Stevenson believes, is wishful thinking. He sparred with Paul for the Tank Davis exhibition and says Paul has considerably improved to be put down as an amateur.

An Olympic medalist like Anthony Joshua, Stevenson is privy to some inside details. Spilling the beans on the sparring session with Jake Paul, he told Ariel Helwani, “We did, what was it, six, seven rounds. We got in the ring, and we sparred.” He confidently concludes the former Disney star is far better than most give him credit for. Notwithstanding perceptions shaped by his late start, Stevenson assured Jake takes his craft seriously.

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“He’s locking in and doing training camps and and and got the right team around him, got the coaches around him. So, he’s better than, like, what you would think,” Stevenson insisted. Jake’s sheer dedication left him both surprised and impressed. He added, “He’s just not a bad fighter. Like his instincts are to not get beat up or not get hit.”

Yet Shakur Stevenson would rather wager his money on AJ than Paul. He challenges the widespread belief that the former unified heavyweight champion would wrap things up inside two rounds. “I know he (Jake) survives the first round,” he concluded on Helwani’s show.

Stevenson may be speaking from personal experience, but the prevailing sentiment still blows in the opposite direction.

Jake Paul attracts both belief and doubt

Veterans, including former champion and Olympic gold medalist Amir Khan, believe the fight could signal the beginning of the end for crossover boxing. Speaking with the Daily Mail, he stated, “I think this could be the end, one of the last fights we ever see when a YouTuber jumps in a ring with a professional fighter, because I think that Jake could get hurt so badly that it could stop all these influencers from getting in the ring again and trying boxing…”

Still, it is difficult to deny that despite stepping in as a heavy underdog, Jake Paul has effected a subtle shift in the narrative.

That may be partly due to Anthony Joshua being past his prime. The embarrassing loss to Daniel Dubois did more damage to his reputation than defeats to Oleksandr Usyk or even the shock loss to Andy Ruiz. Add to that the fact that Joshua only recently returned from an elbow injury that sidelined him from training for weeks.

Many continue to raise doubts about the fight. Still, having shared the ring with Jake, Mike Tyson asserts that he punches hard: “My body hurt so bad.”

That gives Paul at least a puncher’s chance of pulling off an upset. Confidence in him getting the better of Joshua appears to be growing, and it would be wise for AJ not to let his guard down. Given all this, do you agree with Shakur Stevenson’s take on Jake Paul’s skills?