Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua 'Rigged Fight' Claims: Influencer Threatens Lawsuits After Painful Loss

Social media star Jake Paul suffered from broken jaw during his latest boxing match with former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, but speculations about a rigged bout continue to hound the YouTuber.

Paul had always been accused of staging fixed fights in every boxing match he organises since he ventured into the sport in 2020.

Legal Battle Up Ahead

The persistent rumours prompted his Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) co-founder, Nakisa Bidarian, to speak up and defend the matches.

'Our lawyers are actively going after a number of people,' Bidarian said during an interview with Uncrowned's The Ariel Helwani Show, taped three days after the Joshua bout.

He also mentioned that one of the people who will receive a legal complaint claimed to be a lawyer. He said that the person came up with a made-up story about the Paul vs Joshua fight.

'I don't remember the name or the handle, but it was something that had like 200,000 likes. Basically, this post said there was an agreement for 'AJ' not to knock out Jake, but 'AJ' disregarded the agreement and decided to mitigate his payday but knock out Jake Paul. So it's pretty astonishing what people say,' he shared.

Bidarian also mentioned his fellow boxing promoter Lou DiBella, for spreading baseless accusations about Paul's match with the British professional boxer.

DiBella turned to X (formerly Twitter) to criticise the fight, saying that none of what transpired was legit. He also challenged Bidarian to sue him if he is wrong, and emphasised that what Paul and his team were doing is not good for boxing, entertainment and the sport.

Bidarian reacted in the interview, saying DiBella had no idea what he was talking about.

'Lou DiBella, I saw him put up a bunch of ridiculous things, and even said, "Nakisa, go ahead and sue me, but this wasn't a real fight. [Joshua] was pulling punches, he wasn't giving it his full effort,"' the MVP co-founder stated.

Why Critics Don't Believe the Fight

The 28-year-old YouTuber took his chances and adjusted his competition levels for his fight against Joshua, who was way heavier and bigger than him physically.

According to critics, the Olympic gold medalist can finish the fight during the earlier rounds. But he chose to wait until the sixth round to make sure that Paul would not look sulky after getting beaten.

Bidarian added that he was very sympathetic to Paul, who does not seem to be the type to rig his games and would do everything to present a real fight.

He also had an explanation for why Joshua, who could easily knock out Paul in round one, chose to go on with the match.

'Anthony Joshua was on record saying that if he didn't finish him in the first round, that would be disappointing, that would be a failure. The narrative changed as we got closer to fight night and, obviously, post-fight, and I understand why. But they were pretty adamant it would take, max, two rounds to knock out Jake Paul,' the promoter said.

Former UFC Champ Weighs In

Another fighter expressed his doubts about the recently concluded boxing match between Paul and Anthony.

While watching the match, former UFC bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling said on his YouTube channel that Jake Paul did a great job showing up and facing a guy much bigger than him in the ring.

He also noted that Joshua was the first opponent who was bigger than Paul, since he mostly fought boxers who were significantly smaller.

But the skill level of Joshua, who also won gold in the 2012 Olympics, should have made it harder for Paul to stay until the sixth round.

'You can say it's impressive, but I also feel the other side of me that has seen Anthony Joshua fight makes me wonder was there a bet on let's just carry Jake Paul to X amount of rounds, make him look good,' the ex-UFC champion said.

Jake Paul has yet to make a comment about the rigged speculations. He is currently recovering from a double broken jaw injury.