Lawrence Okolie has offered his services to Jake Paul ahead of his December clash with Anthony Joshua.

It was confirmed Monday that two-time world heavyweight champion Joshua will face former YouTuber Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) over eight three-minute rounds at Miami’s Kaseya Center on December 19, live on Netflix.

And while many expect Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) to walk through Paul inside a round, Okolie is not so sure. The ex-cruiserweight world champion has sparred countless rounds with AJ, who is his former manager, and now wants to help Paul be competitive in the fight.

“I want to go and help Jake Paul and give him a chance,” Okolie said Tuesday from his training base in Dubai. “I want to go out there to Puerto Rico. The offer is there.

“I know I have a fight coming up, but I’ll go out for a couple of weeks. I want to know what it is that’s allowed Jake Paul to say to himself ‘I’m going to get in there with a 250 pound muscle man from England, this big guy, Olympic gold, former heavyweight world champion, two-time in front of millions of fans on Netflix’.

“I need to know. Maybe he’s got a secret that I don’t know. But I want to know before the fight.”

Okolie, who is now a fully fledged heavyweight and ranked No. 1 with the WBC, is in the unique position of having sparred both Paul and Joshua over the years. And while he is not picking Paul to win, Okolie does think he can cause Joshua a few issues.

His problems, however, will start if he happens to have any success against the 36-year-old, who is 6ft 6in and likely to weigh in excess of 250 pounds on the night.

“I’m not going to sit here and pretend that it’s not a crazy difference in size, skill, all different ways,” he added. “But you know what, crazier things have happened. So let’s just see.”

When asked whether he expects Joshua, who has 25 KOs from his 28 wins as a professional, to take Paul out in the opening round, Okolie said: “For some reason I don’t think so. From what I’ve gathered of AJ I don’t think he’s going to go hit him with a massive right hand and end it in 30 seconds. I do think though if Jake Paul starts touching him it will be like ‘OK’.

“You know when you’re sparring someone who’s not quite on your level you can gauge how much to put into shots and go ‘OK I’m going to slip’. He hasn’t been in the ring for a while, maybe he’s going to use it as an exercise.

“But if Jake Paul clips him and doesn’t take him out the first time he hits him hard, that’s when I think it’s going to get interesting. But crazier things have happened, I don’t know.

“I think AJ has reach and size so unless you pick very clever punches without getting pushed off then it will be difficult to get a rhythm going. That’s his biggest challenge.

“We don’t know what his coaches are seeing and thinking or why they decided they want Anthony Joshua. Maybe they’re seeing something that none of us can see, we will find out soon enough.”

Okolie is currently preparing for his next outing, which will take place on the very same night in Lagos, Nigeria. In what will be his first outing in the country of his parents’ birth, Okolie is set to headline the event, which also features his fellow London-born Nigerian David Adeleye.

And the 32-year-old is hoping victory could pave the way for a huge Lagos showdown with Joshua, who is himself of Nigerian descent. There was a time when the pair were close and Okolie was even signed to Joshua’s 258 Management, who helped steer him to the cruiserweight title in 2021. In fact, Okolie had once claimed he was unable to ever fight Joshua because his mum simply would not allow it given how much he had done for her son’s career. Okolie laughs.

“Well she’d allow it now," he said. "Put it that way, she would now. I wouldn’t say she’s gone off AJ she’s just more on me. It would be the ultimate Nigeria headliner.”

On his relationship with the 2012 Olympic champion, Okolie added: “It’s okay. I can’t say it’s bad or it’s good, it’s just okay. We sparred not long ago, there’s Anthony Joshua and there’s Lawrence Okolie.”