Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua admitted that his bout with Jake Paul lasted longer than he expected despite delivering an expected beat down of the novice professional boxer.
In a widely talked about bout that took place at the Kaseya Center in Miami in the wee hours of Saturday, December 20, the British fighter knocked out the Youtuber-turned-boxer to win the bout.
Joshua floored Paul twice in the fifth round and handed Paul another knockdown before a thudding right hand connected that floored Paul for the fourth and final time to score the win.
Paul spent most of the night clinching and avoiding engagement with Joshua in the bout that was streamed to Netflix’s 300 million subscribers. Each fighter is expected to fetch at least $40 million from the fight.
Speaking after entering the ring for the first time since losing to Daniel Dubois in 2024, Joshua said it wasn’t his best performance stating,
“It wasn’t the best performance. The end goal was to pin Jake Paul down and hurt him. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found the destination” Joshua said according to the BBC.
After the win, Joshua welcomed challenges for “real fights” next year with reports of an all British heavyweight clash against Tyson Fury being put together.
