Money lured Anthony Joshua to circus fight but he could really hurt Jake Paul | Donald McRae
The unsurprising confirmation of “a colossal global showdown” between Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua arrived on Monday morning with a dull thud.That grand description of an eight-round scrap between a former YouTuber and a former world heavyweight champion was supplied by Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, which also announced that the contest will be screened live on Netflix on 19 December and called Judgment Day.Boxing operates in a netherworld that appears to have sunk far beyond any fear of judgment, while Paul has always had delusions of grandeur as a novice pro.But even boxing may have to consider its own culpability should Paul be badly hurt and end up in hospital after this fully sanctioned bout with regulation 10oz gloves is held in Miami.Paul is a brilliant hustler and, until now, he has chosen his opponents with deliberate care to avoid excessive danger.
His most obviously successful stunt was to entice a 58-year-old Mike Tyson into the ring last November.It turned out to be the biggest “fight” of 2024, but it was an inevitable charade as Tyson was a shell of the great he had once been.Years of self-abuse, allied to severe depression, a stomach ulcer, a bad knee and acute sciatica, meant Tyson shuffled around the ring and took the odd punch for an astronomical purse.Joshua is 36 and he has kept a notably low profile since his crushing defeat by Daniel Dubois 14 months ago.His gaze had appeared fixed on a wildly lucrative showdown with Tyson Fury – who lost his past two fights against Oleksandr Usyk.
Last Saturday, before Conor Benn outboxed Chris Eubank Jr, Turki al-Sheikh, the chair of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority and the man who controls world boxing at its highest level, told 60,000 people at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium that he would put on two massive fights next year.He smiled knowingly when asked if the two-fight deal for Fury-Joshua had been sealed.Eddie Hearn, the promoter, had said Joshua was planning a tune-up against a journeyman in preparation for Fury.But the offer of a crazy amount of money to meet Paul has taken precedence and will serve as a gentle hit before the real business begins.Joshua, like Fury, is well past his prime, but he stays in terrific shape and has fought at the peak of the heavyweight division for the past 10 years.
He also hits very hard and, should he wish to make some kind of statement about the gulf between genuine fighters and YouTube “disruptors”, he could really hurt Paul.The suspicion remains that this will turn out to be a more controlled arrangement with Joshua choosing to avoid causing much damage to the man who is going to make him tens of millions of dollars.That gut reaction is confirmed by the fact that their contest has been limited to eight rounds.Sign up to The RecapThe best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s actionafter newsletter promotionJoshua said: “Whether you like it or not, I’m here to do massive numbers, have big fights and break every record while keeping cool, calm and collected.Mark my words, you’ll see a lot more fighters take these opportunities in the future.
I’m about to break the internet over Jake Paul’s face,”Paul responded with his customary swagger: “This isn’t an AI simulation,This is Judgment Day,When I beat Anthony Joshua, every doubt disappears and no one can deny me the opportunity to fight for a world title,To all my haters, this is what you wanted.
”That last line was a clear acknowledgment that if a proper fight breaks out it would be a shock if Joshua did not knock out Paul,After all, in his modest résumé of 13 professional “fights”, Paul has faced only one relatively competent contemporary boxer,But Tommy Fury is not really a boxer at all and he still beat Paul in a cruiserweight bout in 2023,Paul has since stuck to his usual diet of mock fisticuffs and, as a heavyweight, he was meant to meet Gervonta Davis, a gifted, but troubled world lightweight champion, in a bizarre exhibition this month,But it was cancelled after a lawsuit, citing domestic abuse, was filed against Davis by his ex-girlfriend.
Paul, who has been an admirable champion of women’s boxing, lambasted Davis and promised he would find himself a superior opponent,Joshua has stepped into the void,He and Paul will make a ludicrous amount of money, Netflix will record huge ratings and boxing will seem just a little more broken,Hopefully, there will be no need for Paul to be taken away in an ambulance and we can all find a way to feel a tad less grubby after the circus is over,
‘Simple, well-crafted and excellent’: supermarket chutneys, tasted and rated | The food filter
Our resident taster dipped, spread and dolloped his way through 10 chutneys in time for Christmas, so you don’t get in a pickle choosing one for yourself The fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oilThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Chutney is a heritage recipe that’s been largely unchanged for a century, and some of the best versions are the simplest and most traditional. That said, even when it’s made on an industrial scale, chutney usually features just fruit, sugar, vinegar and perhaps some pectin
It’s not all about roasting on an open fire – there’s so much more you can do with chestnuts
If I’d ever spared a thought for how chestnuts – the sweet, edible kind, not the combative horsey sort – were harvested, I would probably have conjured rosy-cheeked peasants bent low in ancient forests and filling rough-hewn hessian sacks by hand. Back-breaking labour, sure, but so picturesque!I was delighted, therefore, while on a writing retreat in Umbria last month, to get the opportunity to watch an elderly couple manoeuvre a giant vacuum around their haphazard orchard, followed by their furious sheepdog. The fallen crop was sucked into a giant fan that spat their bristly jackets back out on to the ground, and the nuts then went to be sorted by other family members on a conveyor belt in the barn – the good ones to be sold in the shell, the less perfect specimens swiftly dropped into a bucket for processing.Later in the week, a lorry turned up in the village square to pick up bags from other small local producers, and that evening I roasted a pan of chestnuts on the fire with new appreciation, while loudly bemoaning the disappearance from the streets of London of the chestnut sellers of my childhood (though this makes me sound positively Dickensian, I can confirm that I’m talking about this century. Note also that Nigel Slater is less starry-eyed on the subject
Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, brown butter and oat loaf | The sweet spot
I adore a good loaf cake. There’s something about them that’s just inherently cosy and wholesome, and this one in particular is perfect for the colder months, not least because it’s simple and sturdy in the very best way. It’d be right at home with a coffee for breakfast, as well as gently warmed in a pan with butter and served with hot custard on a rainy evening. A real all-rounder.Prep 5 min Cook 1 hr 25 min Serves 8180g unsalted butter 200g light muscovado sugar 2 large eggs 50g soured cream 210g plain flour ½ tsp cinnamon 40g porridge oats, plus extra to finish1½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 2 eating apples 2 tbsp demerara sugarHeat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin
Kids have a wobble in the face of rabbit jelly | Brief letters
I sympathise with Tim Dowling and the challenges of releasing blancmange from a rabbit mould (Jelly’s back! Here are three worth making – and three that should wobble off to the bin, 12 November). My mistake was adding chopped pineapple to the jelly mix, with the resulting jelly looking as though we were seeing the undigested contents of a rabbit’s stomach. My children refused to eat it.Dee ReidTwyford, Berkshire Tim Dowling has missed out one important ingredient from his otherwise commendable recipe for blancmange rabbit: the two sultanas you stick on for the eyes.Jane GregoryEmsworth, Hampshire Regarding concerns over Epstein Road in Thamesmead (Letters, 12 November), spare a thought for those unfortunate residents of Savile Row in central London
Think autumn, think Piedmont – wine from ‘the foot of the mountain’
By the time this column comes out, it will be Big Coat weather, so those collars will be getting higher and the scarves thicker. And, when there’s a chill in the air, I like to eat food than leans towards smoky and earthy flavours: charred vegetables, stews, sausages and mushroom everything.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
‘I’m now a one-issue voter’: US shoppers fear Italian pasta tariff will cause shortage
On Monday night, Kelly planned to make dinner and spend the night inside with her family. Instead, she told her husband to put the kids to bed so she could get in the car, drive to Wegmans and “panic buy” $100 worth of Rummo pasta.Kelly, a 42-year-old product manager who lives outside Philadelphia, has celiac disease, which means that eating gluten triggers an immune response that leads to digestive issues. She saw fellow gluten-free people on Reddit and TikTok freaking out over the fact that the US is mulling a 107% tariff on Italian pasta imports. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hike could lead to those companies withdrawing from the US market as early as January
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