When Jake Paul first stepped foot into this bonkers world of boxing, many laughed at him. A YouTuber—better known for being on the Disney Channel—with no previous experience inside the ring, turning his hand to boxing.

If you’d told us back in 2016 that in just over nine years’ time we’d be writing a preview about the newly crowned IBF World Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua facing Disney star Jake Paul in a legitimate boxing fight, we’d probably have cried tears of laughter — hysterically.

In terms of a random weekend of boxing action, it really doesn’t get much more random – but as randomly exciting – as this one. A super-middleweight ‘interim’ world title fight on Friday, followed by the return of a former heavyweight world champ. Then on Saturday, probably the best fight of the weekend in an all-British European title clash – and Jake Paul headlining a card that features a cruiserweight unification clash against another former world champ.

t started as a joke. A gimmick. A sideshow. “Influencer boxing” was the unwanted child of social media and combat sports—one nobody in the industry asked for and most wished would disappear. But here we are in 2025, and Misfits Boxing isn’t just surviving—it’s thriving. The very platform that once had boxing purists foaming at the mouth has packed out major arenas, racked up millions of pay-per-view buys, and built a die-hard fanbase willing to travel across continents to scream for their favourite YouTuber throwing overhand rights with all the precision of a bar brawl.

A 27-year-old social media sensation and former Disney Channel star faces off against a man who, let’s be honest, became a legend as “the baddest man on the planet.” No, you haven’t stumbled into a parallel universe. This fight is actually happening—this Friday night in Texas.

On a day when the boxing world was rocked by the news that Dillian Whyte had returned ‘adverse analytical findings’ on a random drugs test with VADA, it was up to the heavily criticised Jake Paul versus Nate Diaz fight to shine a spotlight on the sport for all the right reasons.

As time ticks closer to Jake Paul and Nate Diaz’s fight in Dallas, it also ticks towards the inevitable collapse of the very scene it represents.