On Friday night, inside Miami’s Kaseya Center, Jake Paul (12-2) took the boldest step of his 14-fight career. The former influencer-turned-fighter, known for facing combat sports greats well past their prime, took on one of the best heavyweights of his generation, Anthony Joshua (29-4). A gold medal winner who unified the heavyweight titles more times than Paul actually has won a legitimate belt.
Over the first few rounds, Paul should have been wearing biker shorts instead of boxing trunks because he was on his bike and doing a ton of running. But with good reason, he was facing a far better fighter who was 30 pounds heavier and five inches taller. Furthermore, he frustrated Joshua at times and made him wiff on quite a few power shots.
Joshua likely felt like Rocky Balboa trying to chase a chicken over the first four rounds. However, the running and extra weight on Paul’s body, as well as some shots from the heavyweight, started to have an effect, and the American began to noticeably slow down from exhaustion.
At points, it got a bit embarrassing as Paul continued to clinch and fall from being so tired. But it forced him to fight, and the fifth and sixth rounds were actually entertaining, as you could feel the knockout coming. Over the last few rounds, Paul was knocked down several times, but he showed his heart and got back to his feet the first three times.
However, in the sixth, he finally took a shot that he could not recover from, and Jake Paul suffered the first knockout loss of his career.
In the end, Joshua, returning from a 15-month hiatus, did look very rusty over the first few rounds, and the 36-year-old needed some time to get back in a groove. While some will hate on Paul’s performance, he deserves credit for hanging in there with a heavyweight great in prime years for six rounds. Plus, he landed quite a few clean shots on the English boxing legend.
Joshua will likely move on to a fight with Tyson Fury in 2026. Paul did enough in this scrap that there are more attention-drawing matchups in his future.
