Anthony Joshua Finishes Jake Paul in Six Rounds

Anthony Joshua Finishes Jake Paul in Six Rounds

It took Anthony Joshua six rounds to find the big right hand to end the challenge of Jake Paul in Miami. Many, including me, thought it would have come much earlier in the proceedings, but it had been coming. In many ways, it was a matter of time before Paul would find out that boxing at this lofty level isn’t for him.

But Paul can look back on his night with a great degree of pride. The former Disney star, and now aspiring professional boxer, lasted longer than virtually anyone thought he would. Paul soaked up plenty before finally succumbing to the power of Joshua in that pivotal sixth round. It wasn’t pretty, the Hulk Hogan tribute was fitting, and some of what we saw would have been a better fit for the WWE. Paul ran, which was always going to empty his gas tank; he did what he had to stay in the fight. The boos came early. The crowd came for blood, and most with a semblance of common sense, came to see the expected. Paul frustrated Joshua and the crowd in equal measure with his safety-first tactics. But what did we expect?

Paul landed the occasional punch; one big right of his own bounced off Joshua, but the constant moving around was never going to give him anything but survival. It was self-preservation of the highest order. And perfectly understandable. Paul jumped up numerous levels, and he did much better than most expected. The way he got up after multiple knockdowns was admirable. He earned his money and proved a point in the process. The broken jaw he suffered is unlikely to stop the show from moving on to something else down the road. Jake Paul will be back, and even his harshest critic has to give him his flowers, at least to a certain extent.

Joshua was poor, which added to the somewhat embarrassing spectacle. The former two-time world heavyweight champion was coming off a 15-month absence, and it showed. The 36-year-old looked ponderous, slow, and he admitted as much afterwards that it wasn’t a great performance. Paul deserves credit for staying in there for as long as he did, but Joshua most definitely contributed to that with his out of sorts performance. There is work to do if he wants to reach the level he was at before. Tyson Fury won’t be overly concerned with what he saw.

Nobody got hurt, they got away with it, everyone earned a shedload of money, but that doesn’t justify the whole sorry circus. Boxing is a business, and one with far too much show business in it. We saw something that shouldn’t be repeated again. But we all know, it will.