MIAMI: Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua delivered a dose of reality to American Jake Paul with a savage sixth-round knockout that left the social-media-star-turned prize-fighter nursing a jaw broken in two places.
Joshua called out long-time rival Tyson Fury after the clash. “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 managed to evade the heavily favored Briton through a lackluster first four rounds before Joshua found his range, knocking his opponent down twice in the fifth round and finishing him off with a devastating right hand in the sixth.
“It took a little bit longer than expected but the right hand finally found its destination,” said Joshua, who was returning 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.”
Paul, who stepped up from cruiserweight for the bout and has brought 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, 28, said before spitting out blood. “It’s definitely broke but man, that was good.”
Paul later confirmed on social media that he had suffered a “double broken jaw,” uploading an X-ray showing two breaks while he joked he was ready to fight Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez in 10 days’ time.
“I’m going to come back and get a world championship belt at some point,” Paul said.
Others were not convinced.
“This is a clown show,” former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling posted on X.
Paul frustrated Joshua, and viewers, by diving at the Briton’s legs repeatedly and ending up on the canvas in the early rounds.
