Most Valuable Promotions CEO Nakisa Bidarian insists Jake Paul vs. Gervonta “Tank” Davis wasn’t a fallback - “Tank has always been the plan for 2025.” Speaking in Orlando ahead of MVP’s double-header weekend, Bidarian said the mid-November Atlanta showdown was “baked for a very long time,” with the Anthony Joshua idea deliberately mapped for early 2026, not this year. The pivot came after Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez pursued a separate four-fight deal with Riyadh Season, ending exploratory talks to face Paul.
Bidarian pushed back on the narrative that the Davis fight materialized because Joshua “couldn’t get done.” He reiterated that Paul’s public timeline for AJ was 2026 to allow for more experience - “the more, the better” - and because MVP already had a November date earmarked. Negotiations for Paul–Joshua in 2026 are ongoing, he added.
On Paul–Davis, the two biggest unknowns remain weight and whether it’s an exhibition or a sanctioned bout. Bidarian acknowledged Paul “will have to come down from cruiserweight,” while stressing one non-negotiable regardless of format: “there will be a definitive outcome.” The size gap - and sanctioning realities - have fueled assumptions of an exhibition, but MVP says nothing is finalized yet beyond the intent to produce a clear result.
Davis’s draw with Lamont Roach Jr. in March nearly complicated the sequence, but Bidarian said there were no performance clauses - only a choice for Davis: run back Roach first or run Paul first. “Whatever you think is right,” was MVP’s stance. With Atlanta locked for November, MVP’s playbook is clear: deliver the spectacle now, then steer Paul toward an audacious Joshua encounter in 2026.
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