The ‘Problem Child’ is set to make his return to the ring later this month, but is already planning on staying active with a win against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

Jake Paul ahead of his fight with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr(Image: AP)

Jake Paul has dropped a bombshell by revealing a six-man wish list of future opponents, with British heavyweight Anthony Joshua shockingly making the cut.

‘The Problem Child’ is gearing up for a cruiserweight clash with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr on June 28, his first fight since outpointing boxing legend Mike Tyson last November. After inking the deal with Chavez Jr, following a period of frustration over fight updates, Paul is already eyeing up his next big challenges.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer has shockingly called out Joshua, a former two-time heavyweight world champion, after a brief phone exchange earlier this year, with hopes to go head-to-head in 2026. Assuming he emerges from the Chavez Jr fight unscathed, Paul is eager to avoid any time away from the ring and has set his sights on even more high-profile fights.

Among those on his hit-list are WBC world champion Badou Jack, as Paul revealed to Most Valuable Promotions: “After Chavez I think Gervonta Davis, Anthony Joshua, KSI, Tommy Fury, Ryan Garcia, Badou Jack. It’s a pretty hefty list.”

Despite mentioning KSI, Paul recently expressed scepticism on Ariel Helwani Show about that fight materialising, saying: “They only want eight rounds…they just keep adding new stuff [to the negotiations] all the time, and I’m focused on much bigger things.” He added: “I’m all KSI has, he’s literally nothing without the Paul brothers. Logan brought him Prime, and Prime has kept him relevant, and him being able to fight me is the only thing he has left. At the end of the day, I’m doing much bigger things and don’t need to sit here and be negotiating things on Twitter. If they’re going to make the fight happen, they’re going to do it.

“I don’t [think it’s going to happen]…I’ve been saying this for five, six years, and this is a longer negotiation than Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao…I’m clearly the one who is an active fighter, I’m fighting everybody, so who’s the problem here? They aren’t a serious boxing brand, Misfits has gone to s***. Their brand is a joke…and there’s clearly one side that knows what they’re doing and another side that’s just joking around and it’s a circus.”

In the same interview, Paul also revealed that he was close to securing a showdown with Davis at 195lbs before the arrangement fell through. Despite agreement terms finalised in March for a potential face-off, Davis’ bout with Lamont Roach proved to be a stumbling block. The unexpected draw, marred by controversy over a denied knockdown for Roach in round nine, could now pave the way for a rematch between the lightweight contenders on August 16.

The social media star is keen on a dust-up with ‘Tank’ if they both come out on top in their upcoming fights. “That was on the one yard as well, but he has to rematch Lamont Roach,” Paul said. “He wants to get that back. Then we will be back in discussions with Mr. Gervonta. But this is the nature of boxing, you have massive fights on the one-yard line and then they fall through.”

He added: “I never really thought tank was that good, it just took the right fighter to pick him apart to be honest. Someone who had high activity and wasn’t afraid of his power. So, I always saw so many holes in his game, to me it wasn’t that surprising that someone finally gave him some good work.”