Why a £70m payday isn’t the only reason Anthony Joshua is crossing to the seedy side of the tracks to fight Jake Paul – and the big risk he’s taking that’s been overlooked: JEFF POWELL

The original plan was for Anthony Joshua to fight for next-to-nothing on an obscure undercard against some big ol’ boy by way of starting to ready himself for Tyson Fury next year, the Gypsy King willing.

Seventy million bucks are kiboshing that good old-fashioned notion. Such is the lure of the freak shows which are taking over boxing.

That is what Daily Mail Sport understands AJ can expect to bank if there is no last-minute hitch in negotiations for him to join the Jake Paul circus when the YouTuber’s big top rolls into Miami next month.

No, Joshua doesn’t need the money. The latest estimate puts his wealth at more than £200million and that may be sizeably conservative.

Nor, I suspect, is the cheque the only reason why this two-time world heavyweight champion of high regard is on the verge of crossing to the seedy side of tracks which separate prize-fighting from show-boating. Why he is prepared to risk the scorn and derision of connoisseurs of the squared ring.

What Joshua has been missing in semi-retirement is the smell of the grease-paint and the roar of the crowd. Jake Paul – the heir to Barnum and Bailey – can provide that addictive adrenaline rush by the bucket-full. The self-proclaimed disrupter of the established order of the ring chooses his opponents for shock effect.

His first idea after that bizarre dance with Mike Tyson was to trot out Gervonta Davis, a miniscule champion from the lower divisions. When that fell foul of the wee man’s domestic abuse scandals, Paul turned to the giant Joshua. 

If that requires him to bulk up from his natural 190 lbs to 220 lbs, so be it – since this deal gives him a much bigger attraction to broadcast worldwide on Netflix. Even if the tens of millions of buyers will be expecting him to land not on his feet this time, but on his back.

As for Joshua, if he does end up with mud rather than blood on his hands, the bulk of the 60 million or so viewers will not care less. Boxing, in its quest for more young aficionados, is finding that the new-generation audience prefers a different kind of entertainment. 

Never mind the quality, feel the cheap thrill. The Eubank-Benn rematch is imminent evidence of that.

AJ’s legacy is unlikely to be tarnished in the eyes of the larger public outside the boxing community. Such is the sporting world we now live in.

Unless, of course, the unthinkable were to happen. JP is far from a fool. He was fully trained to fight his Gervonta gnome this weekend. Joshua has only about four weeks to shake off the ring rust. Although he always stays in keep-fit shape, that is not the same as two months in the spartan rigours of training camp. 

Even if this turns out to be an exhibition match in the idiom of Mayweather-McGregor rather than a full-blow contest, Joshua’s timing is not certain to be switched on.

Paul actually can hit hard. If he lands just one big shot it will reverberate with the questions being asked of whether Joshua’s punch resistance has gone following this unceremonious flattening by Daniel Dubois at Wembley.

The lucre may be filthy but do any of us have the right to deny any athlete building his fortune into generational wealth for his family?

But if it turns out to be Anthony Joshua who makes an exhibition of himself, he will have to forgive the sly smiles that mingle with the tough sparring in countless schools of hard knocks.