Fight week doesn’t usually feel like this. There’s noise, sure, but beneath the trash talk and prediction clips, something heavier is hanging over Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua. This one isn’t only dividing fans and fighters. It’s dividing confidence, wallets, and nerves, especially as the betting world prepares for a night that might go down in history in the worst way possible.

What makes it strange is how calm the surface appears. Anthony Joshua is an accomplished heavyweight. Jake Paul remains, to many, an outsider playing a risky game. However, the anxiety is not over who should win. It’s about what happens when logic fails again. Because people continue to bet on instability, and this time the stakes are high.

Henry Cejudo says the quiet part out loud

Henry Cejudo, the former UFC champion, did not mince words. In a viral YouTube video, he began with what sounded like a eulogy. “Guys, can I please get a moment of silence for Jake Paul?” Cejudo bluntly described the matchup as a mismatch in every physical sense. As ‘The Problem Child’ is going against a bigger man, who is a real heavyweight, an Olympic gold medalist, and a former world champion.

‘Triple C’ did not claim Jake Paul was crazy or cowardly. He even praised him for taking the initiative. But the accolades ended there. “The only way Jake Paul is able to win this fight is by surviving maybe three to four rounds,” he said in the YouTube short. Survival, not victory, was the standard. Anything more, in Henry Cejudo’s opinion, would earn respect.

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Even that seemed generous. Cejudo consistently reached the same conclusion: Anthony Joshua could end it whenever he wanted. A round or two, and that’s it. “That being said, guys, I give Jake Paul no chance whatsoever,” he concluded, signing off with a message in the caption that read like a warning label: RIP Jake Paul. BEWARE, BETTORS.

When you look at the numbers, that warning comes across differently. DraftKings is apparently bracing for about $100 million in losses if Jake Paul pulls off the upset. Not because the odds are wrong, but because bettors keep rushing in anyway. Anthony Joshua is just too expensive to back. Paul is the dream ticket.

This is what happens when spectacle meets accessibility. The fight is on Netflix. The audience is larger. The bets are louder. And the belief is not that Jake Paul is the superior boxer. It’s that he’s already proven once that disbelief pays. Maybe that’s why Drake has jumped on the betting bandwagon as well.

Drake places an unexpected bet on Paul

The air of doubt that has spread throughout the betting community does not end with casual fans. It keeps increasing. Once chaos feels possible, it attracts those who wager on the moment rather than the money. That is where the conflict is now, not in logic, but in a space where shock is still an option.

Drake stepped right into that space. The rapper bet $200,000 on Jake Paul to defeat Anthony Joshua, supporting a +800 underdog with a potential payout of more than $1.6 million. He shared the clip publicly, adding a blunt message on Instagram: “Jakeyyyy boy, lock the f— in.” No hedging or irony. Just a clear stance.

Given Drake’s reputation, this is a hard choice to ignore. In combat sports circles, his bets are almost seen as bad omens. He lost big by supporting Mike Tyson against Paul last year, and now he’s turned sides. Whether that’s confidence or contradiction doesn’t really matter. The bet reflects the overall sentiment around this contest. People aren’t betting because they believe Jake Paul will win. They’re wagering because if he succeeds, everything breaks.