MIAMI — Anthony Joshua knocked Jake Paul down three times and shattered his jaw en route to a violent sixth-round stoppage Friday night but the former unified heavyweight champion left the Kaseya Center distinctly dissatisfied.
Paul suffered two fractures in his jaw and underwent immediate surgery. Joshua, meanwhile, improved to 29-4 (26 KOs), yet said the victory fell far short of the standard he sets for himself.
Speaking at the post-fight press conference, Joshua didn’t sugarcoat his self-assessment. “What I could have done better is a lot of things, one hundred percent,” Joshua said. “The expectations we put on ourselves are immense, but I tried my best. Jake did well while it lasted.”
Despite being a massive favorite against a novice who many believed wouldn’t survive the opening round, Joshua admitted he was frustrated that the win took nearly six rounds to materialize. “I wish that I could have knocked him out at the start,” he continued. “But as we saw tonight, Jake has spirit. He has heart. Even when he got knocked down, he kept on trying to get up.”
Joshua also credited Paul for something many of the sport’s elite have declined to do in recent years: “A lot of fighters haven’t got in the ring with me and Jake did.”
Paul made the fight “a bit messy”
Paul (12-2, 7 KOs) spent most of the fight circling, backpedaling, and clinching, turning what many expected to be a quick blowout into a scrappy, disjointed encounter. Joshua acknowledged the difficulty of breaking through Paul’s survival-first approach.
“In the clinch, he did really well,” Joshua said. “When you’re in survival mode, you’ll always find a way. I wanted to let my hands go, especially to the body, but he tied me up. When my hands were free, I tried to land those body shots.”
Ultimately, it was the right hand that closed the show. Joshua floored Paul twice in Round 5, then delivered a crushing straight right hand early in Round 6 that broke Paul’s jaw and ended the fight.
Numbers tell the story
According to CompuBox:
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Joshua landed 48 of 146 punches
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Paul landed just 16 of 56
Joshua’s pressure finally broke Paul down but the performance didn’t impress the man delivering the blows.
Joshua made it clear that the result alone wasn’t enough to satisfy him or his team.
“I needed to do better. It’s a win, but it’s not a success. My coach expects more from me, and I expect more of myself.”
Joshua said he plans to move past the Paul fight quickly and focus on improvement.
“I can’t live off that win. I’ve got a lot of improvement I need to do. I’m not happy.”
Joshua is expected to return early in 2026 in a bout that could position him for a long-anticipated showdown with Tyson Fury if both sides win their interim matchups.
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Robert LaMar is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X via @RobertLaMar26
