Jake Paul to get sleighed in Christmas mismatch

Well, this should separate the boxing men from the boxing boys.

Last week, it was confirmed that YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul will fight two-time World Champion Anthony Joshua next month in a professional, eight-round bout.

All things being equal, there is no way on earth Paul will win this contest. I don’t care how much he has practised, how good his trainers are or how well prepared he is, he won’t be able to outbox someone of Joshua’s size, talent and experience.

If you recall, a year ago Paul took on legend Mike Tyson and won. But Tyson was 58 and the last time he had boxed in anger was around the time Paul was busy being born.

And, to be honest, that fight raised lots of questions.

Replays, for example, showed that Iron Mike had numerous openings to clobber his opponent with one of his trademark power punches. But he either held back, which would suggest a bit of scripting (or fixing) was going on, or simply wasn’t able to see the opportunities.

That is unlikely to happen with Joshua. For a start, he is only 36, was World Champion just a couple of years ago, is still fighting professionally and probably has aspirations of regaining his titles.

I can’t see Joshua being prepared to take things easy, even if this fight is mostly about the money. Assuming there aren’t any dodgy brown envelope shenanigans going on here, Joshua should blow Paul away. And, considering his credibility and future earning power will be on the line, I would expect him to do just that.

Tyson was too old, too slow and probably too kind-hearted to do what everyone hoped he would. Joshua won’t have that problem

For a while, us oldies genuinely thought Tyson would put Paul back in his place. The idea of Iron Mike rolling back the years and flattening a loud-mouthed YouTuber felt almost poetic. It was the fight every greying boxing fan secretly wanted: the sport’s most terrifying puncher giving the internet’s most irritating personality a lesson in humility. But Tyson was too old, too slow and probably too kind-hearted to do what everyone hoped he would.

Joshua won’t have that problem.

He’s younger, sharper, heavier and still a fully active professional boxer with something to prove. Joshua doesn’t have to pretend he’s still in his prime... he is still in his prime. And he has zero emotional attachment to Paul. No reason to hold back.

That’s why this fight feels different. Tyson couldn’t do it. The old legend swung but the years had taken too much from him. Now it falls to Joshua, a recent world champion and someone who still hits like a falling wardrobe, to show the YouTube star what real power looks like.

For Paul, this could be the night he finally feels the punches he’s been pretending to feel for years. And for the rest of us? Well… let’s just say Christmas might come a week early.

The World Cup story

I said I wasn’t overly excited about last weekend’s final round of World Cup qualifiers. And I wasn’t. But, in hindsight, there were a few interesting take-aways from the international break.

England – Eight games, eight wins, 22 goals scored, zero conceded. As I’ve said before, the qualification system is broken and almost utterly pointless but England played the hand they were dealt flawlessly.

This has obviously led to the usual ‘this is our time’ comments from overexcited fans who are conveniently forgetting the standard of the qualifying opposition. Having said that, there are signs that Thomas Tuchel’s no-nonsense approach to team selection is reaping its rewards.

So, you never know.

Malta – Our boys did superbly to beat Finland away last week and then followed that up with a stirring home performance against Poland. Although the latter game ended in defeat, there were plenty of positives to take from the match and I don’t think there would have been too many complaints from the Poles if the game had finished 2-2.

I am hoping, sincerely hoping, that we carry the form of these last two games into the next qualifying campaign. The idea that we might one day make it to the finals of a major tournament might still seem far-fetched. But, after the last week, it doesn’t seem like a totally impossible dream.

Scotland – For pretty much the entire qualifying campaign, Scotland have been a combination of mediocre and lucky. They scraped draws they didn’t deserve and got wins that were barely merited.

But somehow they managed to save the best for last – edging out Denmark in a 4-2 thriller that saw them top their group and book a place in the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998.

And, let’s be clear: this wasn’t a win based on a few lucky or scrappy goals, it was a collection of potential goals of the decade. Three minutes in and Scott McTominay set the tone with an outrageous overhead kick that left the long-suffering Tartan Army gasping.

Later, Kieran Tierney curled one in from 25 yards and, in the dying seconds, Kenny McLean lobbed it from the halfway line into an empty net. I mean, come on, that’s the kind of finish you only see on the PlayStation, not in a real-life, do-or-die qualifier.

For a team that spent most of the campaign stumbling, this was a truly magical conclusion.

Italy – Italy are once again flirting with disaster. Somehow, the four-time world champions are staring at the very real possibility of missing a third consecutive World Cup. Their qualifying run wasn’t awful on paper but two painful defeats to Norway dumped them into the play-offs, and every Italy fan on the planet knows how well that went the last two times.

Manager Gennaro Gattuso didn’t help the mood when he launched into a critique of the qualification system, arguing that UEFA’s route to the finals is far harsher than anything faced in other continents. And, to be fair to him, he does have a point. If Italy were placed in almost any other confederation, they’d probably stroll through.

But while the argument has merit, the timing couldn’t have been worse, making it sound more like sour grapes than logical analysis. The truth is Italy’s problems run deeper than the format: inconsistent performances, a lack of a settled spine and an ongoing struggle to replace their old guard from a shallow pool of talent.

The system may be unforgiving but Italy have given it plenty to be unforgiving about.

E-mail: jamescalvertmalta@gmail.com

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