Jake Paul issued a warning Wednesday night to Deontay Wilder and anyone else publicly questioning the legitimacy of his heavyweight fight against Anthony Joshua.

Wilder, a former WBC champ and Joshua’s longtime rival, told Daily Mail Sport last week he thinks Paul-Joshua is “scripted.” Paul addressed that accusation during their final press conference Wednesday for an eight-round bout scheduled for Friday night at Kaseya Center in Miami.

“I give ‘em a cease-and-desist letter in their email for lying on my name,” Paul said. “And then the lawsuit’s coming right after, because these people won’t stop lying. And I honestly take it as a compliment, but people need to shut the [expletive] up. And Deontay Wilder, you know, he’s been hit a lot by Tyson Fury. So, he’s clearly not the smartest guy. But there’s nothing in the contract – AJ can attest to it. We’re going to war and that’s, at the end of the day, [what] all my fights have been like.”

Paul, 28, is a novice compared to Joshua, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist and two-time unified heavyweight champion who has fought an impressive list of current and former titleholders during his decade at the top of his division. The 6-foot-6 Joshua stands approximately five inches taller than Paul and weighed 243.4 pounds Thursday, almost 27 more than the 216.6-pound Paul, when they stepped on the Florida Athletic Commission’s scale.

The controversial Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) has taken constant criticism throughout his nearly six-year run in boxing. His fight with 58-year-old Mike Tyson 13 months ago was intensely scrutinized, especially because Paul admitted after he out-pointed the former heavyweight champion that he “carried” Tyson in a fight Netflix streamed worldwide.

Netflix will also stream the bout between Paul and Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), who hasn’t fought since fellow Brit Daniel Dubois knocked him out in the fifth round of their IBF title fight in September 2024 at a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London.

Joshua, 36, also assured skeptics during their final press conference that there aren’t any restrictions in their contracts that would prohibit him from approaching Paul like any other opponent in a government-regulated boxing match.

The ring will be slightly larger than most – 22 feet by 22 feet – and Joshua wasn’t allowed to weigh more than 245 pounds Thursday. The 6-foot-1 Paul, who has mostly competed in the cruiserweight division, came in nearly 11 pounds lighter than he weighed when he fought Tyson (a career-high 227.2 pounds).

Nevertheless, they’ll wear 10-ounce gloves, the global standard for heavyweight fights. They’ve stressed, too, that this isn’t an exhibition and will count on both of their records.

“There’s nothing in the contract,” Joshua said. “And we’re not worried about what opinions are, whether it’s Wilder, [Tyson] Fury, whoever. The only thing that was in the contract that got my attention was the money. Other than that, I didn’t worry about nothing else.”