A terrifying right hand and Jake Paul ends up knocked out. Anthony Joshua, former world heavyweight champion, wins the exhibition match with the YouTuber in the ring in Miami. Paul, an American influencer who has been practicing boxing for years, ends up knocked out in the sixth of the 8 scheduled rounds and ends the evening with two fractures in his jaw. Joshua, as expected, dominates the match from start to finish: the British man sends his opponent to the ground 2 times in the fifth round and 2 more in the sixth before placing the decisive blow that puts an end to the challenge (or the farce). The difference between the two contenders is enormous: a real boxer against an influencer, who also belongs to another weight category. Joshua lands 48 shots out of 146 attempted, Paul lands just 16.
The Briton, about 15 centimeters taller, easily exploits his superior reach against an opponent who spends a good part of the evening running from one side to the other. “It wasn’t the best match but in the end the right hand got in,” says Joshua, who now has a record of 29-4 and, having returned to winning ways after more than a year, dreams of returning to ‘real boxing’, hypothesizing a challenge with compatriot Tyson Fury. For Paul, comes the second defeat in 14 fights as an ‘almost boxer’. After surreal shows and assorted dramas, including the meeting (?) with Mike Tyson, the influencer discovers the true face of boxing and returns home with a couple of fractures. Obviously, his career continues and other matches will come that are useful for obtaining millionaire purses but without any competitive value. “Now I’ll stop for a while, then I’ll go back to fighting in my weight category.” Better, certainly.
