Anthony Joshua has admitted his career needed a "reset" ahead of his return to the ring for a surprise fight against YouTube star Jake Paul.
Joshua has been absent from the ring since a brutal knockout loss to Daniel Dubois in September 2024 and was linked with a string of big-name fights before agreeing to face Paul in Miami this weekend.
Ahead of the bout, which takes place on Friday evening local time in Miami but in the early hours of Saturday morning in the UK, Joshua has released a video on his YouTube channel featuring several interviews with him from recent weeks.
Explaining his lengthy absence from the ring, Joshua said: "I always say this, for every time you win, there's a reason. For every time you lose, there's a reason.
"So why I pause is because when you lose, you tend to take a deeper look at yourself and take time to figure out what went wrong.
"I had to look at the reasons why I lost, and I said to myself 'I think I need a bit of time' because I predicted this moment in like 2018. Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot.
"I was moving 100 miles an hour, inside training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing and for any man or any woman, at some stage, they probably need a bit of a reset.
"So it came to that stage, really, in 2025, where I was at the time and I thought, 'you know, I probably need a year out of the game."
"The question is, should Anthony Joshua fight Jake Paul? Who knows? But we're going to do it anyway."
The 36-year-old revealed that he had been planning on making a surprise return to action in Saudi Arabia, but the chance to take on Paul in a highly lucrative bout saw him change course.
"The plan was to take a year out of the game, come back with an understated fight, make a low-key entry back into the heavyweight division," Joshua said.
"I was actually planning on fighting this weekend in Saudi Arabia. Plan was, go on, no media, no press conference and just walk out, have a fight and everyone like, 'bro, where did this come from?'
"So now we're fighting with Jake Paul in Miami, December 19. That's why you've always got to stay ready because you never know what's around the corner. Always stay ready."
On paper, the fight is a huge mismatch with two-time heavyweight world champion Joshua taking on Paul, who hasn't faced an opponent anywhere near the Brit's calibre during his 13 professional bouts.
Joshua insists his focus is on the finer details of his own performance, rather than the expectation that he will claim a swift knockout victory.
He added: "The first bell's going to go, I need to understand Jake Paul's rhythm, I need to understand his negatives, his positives and then obviously I'm going to exploit them.
"What I'm going to do personally is be at the highest point of self.
"Everything that I've watched the greats do, I'm just going to do exactly what I need to do. I am going to be the best version of myself.
"If I say to myself, today I want you to do this, I want you to do that and I want you to be amazing, I want you to catch and counter, I want you to slip and counter, I want you to parry and counter, I want you to dance, I want you to up jab, I want you to spear jab, I want you to flick a jab, I want you to double jab, I want you to jab going back.
"I am going do everything that I want to do and no one's going to stop me."
