Jake Paul’s promoter and business partner Nakisa Bidarian has revealed that legal representatives are actively pursuing individuals who have accused the 28-year-old’s recent bout with Anthony Joshua as being fixed.
Bidarian, who serves as co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions alongside the YouTube star turned boxer, made the disclosure during an appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show on Monday evening.
The promoter brings considerable credentials to the role, having previously served as chief financial officer at the UFC during the organisation’s landmark $4.4billion sale before establishing himself as a significant figure in boxing.
Paul has consistently maintained his innocence against rigging allegations, emphasising that fixing a professional sporting event constitutes a federal crime.
Among those being targeted is an individual who claimed to be a lawyer on social media, whose post garnered approximately 200,000 likes.
“One in particular was claiming to be a lawyer online, I don’t remember the handle but it had something like 200,000 likes,” Bidarian explained.
The viral post made the extraordinary claim that a pre-arranged agreement existed between the camps stipulating that Joshua would not knock out Paul.
Jake Paul was left reeling following his defeat to Anthony Joshua | GETTY
“Basically this post said there was an agreement for AJ not to knock out Jake but AJ disregarded the agreement and decided not to get his payday and knock out Jake,” Bidarian recounted.
The promoter expressed astonishment at the nature of such accusations circulating online.
Bidarian also addressed comments from veteran promoter Lou DiBella, who publicly questioned the legitimacy of the contest.
Five facts about boxing that fans might not know | GBNEWS/PA
“It’s pretty astonishing what people say Lou DiBella, I saw him put up a bunch of ridiculous things and even said ‘Nakisa, go ahead and sue me but this wasn’t a real fight, he was pulling punches, he wasn’t giving it his full effort’,” Bidarian stated.
DiBella’s social media post was direct in its criticism of the bout.
“Nothing legit about this, Nakisa even if everything’s ‘legal’. Go ahead and sue me. No, this isn’t good for #boxing, sports, or entertainment. Goodnight. #PaulJoshua,” the promoter wrote.
Bidarian was unequivocal when pressed directly by Helwani on whether any impropriety had ever occurred in Paul’s fighting career.
“There has never once in Jake Paul’s career been any talk of that sort of anything to do with the fight being anything but a real fight that has exactly the same situation as any professional fight,” he confirmed.
Jake Paul lasted six rounds before being battered by Anthony Joshua
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REUTERSThe promoter pointed to Joshua’s own pre-fight statements as evidence of the bout’s authenticity, noting the British heavyweight had publicly declared it would be a failure if he did not finish Paul in the opening round.
“They were pretty adamant it would take maximum two rounds to take out Jake Paul,” Bidarian added, observing that this confident narrative shifted as the fight approached.
Paul sustained a broken jaw during the bout, losing for just the second time in his professional career following his loss to Tommy Fury in 2023.
As for Joshua, the 36-year-old is determined to fight Tyson Fury amid claims the two men have an agreement in place behind the scenes.