Former two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua ended Jake Paul’s boxing rise with a sixth-round knockout on Friday night at the Kaseya Center.
Joshua, 36, was competing for the first time in 15 months after his loss to Daniel Dubois and clearly showed the gap in experience between an elite heavyweight and a developing cruiserweight fighter.
He scored four knockdowns in the scheduled eight-round bout, which was stopped in the sixth round after Paul collapsed in the corner.
Before the fight, Joshua said he felt drawn into the bout to “protect the purists of boxing.” After the win, he praised Paul’s toughness, while Paul accepted the result, saying, “I got my ass beat, but that’s what this sport’s about.”
The fight began cautiously, with Paul using movement to avoid Joshua’s power, but the momentum shifted in the middle rounds as Joshua took control of the ring.
His strength and accuracy became decisive in the fifth round, when he knocked Paul down twice, and the pressure continued into the sixth, forcing the referee to stop the contest.
Joshua weighed 243 pounds for the fight, a 27-pound advantage over Paul, who weighed 216.
The bout was streamed worldwide on Netflix to about 300 million subscribers, highlighting the commercial pull of crossover boxing events.
Despite concerns raised by boxing purists over safety, the atmosphere in Miami was electric, with a sell-out crowd witnessing the first stoppage loss of Paul’s 14-fight career.
The victory positions Joshua for a potential long-awaited “Battle of Britain” against Tyson Fury in Riyadh in 2026.
Paul, now 12-2, said after the fight that he likely suffered a broken jaw and plans to return to the cruiserweight division after recovering to continue his pursuit of a world title.
