MIAMI BEACH — What was once seen as a pipe dream is inching closer to becoming a reality.

Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul promised knockouts after their media workout Tuesday at LIV at Fontainebleau ahead of their fight Friday. Joshua will face him in an eight-round heavyweight bout at Kaseya Center on Netflix.

Joshua can’t weigh in at more than 245 pounds, and the fighters will wear 10-ounce gloves, which is standard for a sanctioned heavyweight fight.

“It was an honor to be invited to America to come and perform in front of some amazing people,” Joshua said at the media workout. “It has to be done. Jake Paul has got some big balls, and I’ve got to give him respect for taking this fight because I’m ready. It’s go time.”

He added: "[The fans] want to see some heavy punches thrown and they want to see someone knocked out and I'm going to deliver."

In Joshua’s lone fight in America, he was on the wrong end of one of boxing’s biggest upsets when he was stopped in the seventh round by Andy Ruiz in 2019. Joshua avenged the defeat six months later in Saudi Arabia with a unanimous decision over Ruiz to become a two-time unified heavyweight champion.

Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) will be fighting for the first time since his fifth-round knockout defeat to former IBF heavyweight titleholder Daniel Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) last year. He appears to have greener pastures on the horizon, with one bout planned for February before he potentially faces Tyson Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) later in 2026 in what’d arguably be the biggest domestic fight the United Kingdom has ever hosted.

If Joshua, 36, is going to do his part to help set up a fight against Fury, he must avoid being on the wrong end of what’d be arguably the biggest upset in boxing history.

Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) has won six straight fights since the lone defeat of his career, a split decision to Tommy Fury in 2023. In his last fight, Paul, 28, defeated former middleweight titlist Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. by unanimous decision on July 28.

Paul was originally scheduled to face WBA lightweight champion Gervonta “Tank” Davis in an eight-round exhibition on Nov. 14 in Miami. Paul’s company, Most Valuable Promotions, pulled the plug after Davis’ ex-girlfriend, Courtney Rossel, filed a civil lawsuit against him.

Paul has long billed himself as a disruptor in boxing, and he’s confident that he’ll live up to that when he faces what is by far his most difficult task to date.

“One of us is going to sleep,“ Paul said. “That’s what we’re going to do here. That’s what this heavyweight fight is all about. That’s why we’re here.

"I started my boxing journey here in Miami, and we’re bringing it back. I’m going to shock the world and pull off the biggest upset in sports history.”

The results from the three fights that took place during open workouts.