British boxing star Lawrence Okolie has offered his services to Jake Paul as the American fine-tunes his preparations for next month's blockbuster showdown with Anthony Joshua.
The two fighters agreed terms for a multi-million pound showdown in Miami over the weekend with two-time heavyweight champion of the world Joshua finally set to end his 15-month long hiatus from the sport.
AJ hasn't fought since being comprehensively beaten by Daniel Dubois for the IBF title in September 2024, with the fighter biding his time to find the right opportunity whilst also recovering from hand surgery.
Speculation surrounding a potential dust-up between Joshua and Paul had been bubbling since the summer when promoter Eddie Hearn hinted that his heavyweight charge would be keen to seal a lucrative deal to take on the brash American.
However, despite a willingness to strike an agreement, Paul subsequently agreed terms to take on lightweight champion Gervonta 'Tank' Davis, only for the clash to be cancelled just weeks before fight night.
That opened the door for talks between MVP (Paul's promotional company) and Matchroom to reconvene over the past couple of weeks, with the finer details being thrashed out over the weekend.
Okolie, who was previously managed by Joshua, admits he was as surprised as anybody by Monday's announcement and admits he is keen to find out just why Paul is so confident of springing what would be one of the biggest surprises in boxing history.
"I want to know what it is that’s allowed Jake Paul to say to himself ‘I’m going to get in there with a 250 pound muscle man from England, this big guy, Olympic gold, former heavyweight world champion, two-time in front of millions of fans on Netflix’," he told The Ring Magazine.
"I need to know. Maybe he’s got a secret that I don’t know. But I want to know before the fight!
"We don’t know what his coaches are seeing and thinking or why they decided they want Anthony Joshua. Maybe they’re seeing something that none of us can see, we will find out soon enough.
"But I want to go and help Jake Paul and give him a chance - I want to go out there to Puerto Rico. The offer is there!
"I know I have a fight coming up, but I’ll go out for a couple of weeks."
Okolie shared plenty of rounds with Joshua during sparring sessions whilst the two fighters were under the 258 MGT umbrella whilst he also served as a training partner of Paul's in the build-up to his clash with 'Iron' Mike Tyson 12 months ago.
The 32-year-old is unequivocal in his belief that there is a huge gap in quality between the two fighters, but still, despite that, refused to rule out the prospect of witnessing one of the greatest upsets in sporting history.
"I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not a crazy difference in size, skill, all different ways," he added.
"But you know what, crazier things have happened, so let's see!"
