In his own words, it took “a little bit longer than expected” but the class of Anthony Joshua prevailed, with the heavyweight champ defeating Jake Paul by stoppage in the sixth round.
Afterwards, Joshua called out old nemesis Tyson Fury, imploring Fury to “put down his Twitter fingers” and return to the ring.
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“If Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is, and he wants to put down his Twitter fingers and come and fight one of the realist fighters out there, let’s see you in the ring,” Joshua told Netflix’s Ariel Helwani post-fight.
Fans who were after a quick knockout were left disappointed. It was far from a pretty fight with Paul keen to grapple his much bigger opponent as well as flop to the ground in a bid to waste time and frustrate Joshua.
In turn, barely any punches were thrown across the first three rounds. Paul’s tactics stunted the momentum of the fight so often that the referee Christopher Young had to warn Paul.
“Listen, the rough tactics have got to stop. The fans didn’t pay to see this crap. If you’re gonna fight, then fight, but fight within the rules!” Young said.
Joshua was patient but started upping the volume in rounds 4, 5 and 6, with Paul unable to match the Englishman’s power.
“He (Paul) was competitive. He was frustrating AJ in those earlier rounds, he had a good game plan but AJ is a very heavy hitter and the body shots he landed took a toll.” former pro boxer David Haye said in commentary.
Joshua was pressed post-fight about his inability to put Paul away in the early rounds despite his declaration it would be a failure if he didn’t knock ‘The Problem Child’ out inside the first round.
“It wasn’t the best performance. The end goal was to pin him down and hurt him. It took longer than expected but the right hand finally found a destination,” Joshua said.
“Jake Paul has done really well tonight. He got up time and time again. It was difficult for him but he tried to find a way. We have to give him respect, it takes a real man to do that.
“He came up against a real fighter tonight.”
Helwani then asked if Joshua was disappointed he didn’t “put Paul away earlier”.
I need to give this guy a systematic breakdown. I know what type of fighter he is and I said I’m going to take his soul and I’m going to see it leave his body round after round,” Joshua responded.
“I understand the psychology of fighting as well and I knew what Jake was going through and I just took my time, as I said 15 months out of the ring, and I got the job done within the time limit of eight rounds.
“I refuse to get hurt. I refuse to be beat. This is boxing, I’m going to get hit. Every time he hit me, I would hit back.”
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Paul took the loss in his stride, sporting a broken jaw while acknowledging he “got his ass beat”.
“I love this sport. I gave it my all. It’s f***ing crazy. Anthony is a great fighter,” he said.
“I got my ass beat but I’m going to come back and keep winning. I’ve already won every way in life.
“I think my jaw is broken by the way. It’s definitely broke. But that’s an ass whoopin’ from one of the best to do it.
“I’m going to come back and get myself a belt at some point. But he hits hard. I just did my best. I’ll heal the jaw and come back and fight people at my weight. Go for the cruiserweight world title.”
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