Jake Paul just fired a flamethrower at Francis Ngannou and didn’t leave much room for interpretation. After Ngannou’s recent comments, Paul called him an “easy fight,” labeled him a “terrible boxer,” and said he would knock him out the same way Anthony Joshua did.
Here’s Paul’s full quote to Sky Sports News:
“I would say there’s a long list of opponents [for his next fight]. I think most recently Francis Ngannou was talking a lot of smack. He is an easy fight for me. I think he is a terrible boxer. I’ll go back up to heavyweight and knock him out like Joshua did, render him unconscious. He knows I lasted longer than him against Joshua. I didn’t get put out. I think maybe he wouldn’t do the fight because deep down he wouldn’t want to get embarrassed.”
Watch Paul’s comments via Sky Sports below:
Jake Paul says Francis Ngannou doesn’t want to fight him because he “doesn’t want to get embarassed” 😳
“That’s an easy fight for me, I think he’s a terrible boxer. [I’d] knock him out like Joshua did, render him unconscious.”
(via @SkySportsBoxing)pic.twitter.com/XrEJ8ifrAx
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) March 23, 2026
Why this matchup is still very real
This isn’t random trash talk. Ngannou is set to fight Philipe Lins on May 16 at the MVP Netflix event, and that result could directly affect whether a Paul crossover fight gets pushed next. We already covered the full card details.
Paul’s side of the timeline is less clear because he is still recovering after the Joshua loss and subsequent surgery issues. We covered that in jaw surgery.
Ngannou and Paul have already traded words publicly, including Ngannou saying he was more interested in hurting Paul than simply fighting him. For that back-and-forth, see their exchange.
The business case is obvious, the bad blood is already there, and both camps know this fight prints attention. But before anything gets signed, Ngannou has to clear Lins and Paul has to be healthy enough to actually cash the check he keeps calling for.
