Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua delivered a stark reality check to Jake Paul on Friday, stopping the social media star turned prizefighter with a brutal sixth round knockout in Miami that left Paul nursing a suspected broken jaw.
Paul managed to evade the heavily favoured Briton through a lacklustre first 4 rounds before Joshua found his range, knocking his opponent down twice in the fifth round and finishing him with a devastating right hand in the sixth.
“It took a little bit longer than expected but the right hand finally found its destination,” Joshua said as he returned to the ring after a 15 month layoff.
“Jake Paul has done really well tonight. I want to give him his props. He got up time and time again. It was difficult in there for him but he kept trying to find a way.
“It takes a real man to do that… but he came up against a real fighter tonight.”
The bout was carried live to Netflix’s approximately 300 million subscribers worldwide.
After the fight, Joshua immediately turned his attention to long time rival Tyson Fury.
“If you’re a real bad man, don’t do all that talking, ‘AJ this, AJ that,’ let’s see you in the ring and talk with your fists,” he said.
Paul, who stepped up from cruiserweight and has drawn a new audience to boxing through his fights and promotion company Most Valuable Promotions, was no match for Joshua’s size, strength and experience.
“I think my jaw is broken,” Paul said before spitting out blood.
“It’s definitely broke but man, that was good. A nice little ass whooping from one of the best to ever do it … I’m going to come back and get a world championship belt at some point.”
Critics were unconvinced by the spectacle.
“This is a clown show,” former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling posted on X.
Paul frustrated Joshua and viewers by repeatedly diving at the Briton’s legs and ending up on the canvas during the early rounds.
“Why are people complaining? You knew what you were gonna get,” former mixed martial artist and podcaster Josh Thomson posted. “If you thought anything else you were in denial.”
US President Donald Trump said he watched the bout while travelling.
“On the plane I just got to watch the Jake Paul Fight, and he did really well, especially as a display of GREAT Courage against a very talented and large Anthony Joshua,” he posted on Truth Social.
“Fantastic Entertainment, but Kudos to Jake for his Stamina, and frankly, Ability, against a much bigger man!”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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