Anthony Joshua knocked out Jake Paul in the sixth round of their heavyweight fight, but the two-time heavyweight champion displayed why he remains one of the sport’s elite punchers.
When he dropped the fading Paul twice in the fifth round, the YouTuber was finished as he was rocked with a right uppercut early in the sixth. In front of a capacity crowd of 19,600 at the Kaseya Centre, Joshua floored the underdog with a combination to the head as he crushed his opponent’s dream when dropping him a fourth time with a right to the head – the referee, Christopher Young, counted Paul out at 1:31 of the round.
It was Joshua’s first bout since Daniel Dubois knocked him out in five rounds in September 2024. And, for him, his methodical pace was sufficient to get the job done – with as little strain as possible.
Paul, on the other hand - having spent fight week promising the greatest upset in sporting history - instead, spent the majority of the bout by avoiding any kind of meaningful engagement. Joshua – who earned his share of a reported £210m purse - can now either look to reclaim the heavyweight title he lost against Oleksandr Usyk, or, finally come face-to-face with the long-discussed match-up with countryman and fellow-former champion, Tyson Fury.
However, Fury is currently retired following consecutive losses to Usyk in 2024.
So, a possible, neh, entual 'Joshua-Paul' rematch? - Would boxing’s purists ‘allow’ that?
