Anthony Joshua handed Jake Paul the harshest reality check of his boxing career in Miami, dropping the influencer-turned-fighter four times en route to a ruthless sixth‑round knockout in their heavyweight main event at Kaseya Center.
Joshua, a former unified heavyweight champion, was fighting for the first time in 15 months. Paul, coming off a run of wins over carefully selected opposition, stepped up several levels, and it showed.
After largely avoiding serious damage in the early rounds with constant movement, clinching and time‑wasting tactics, Paul was systematically broken down once Joshua finally found his range in the second half of the fight.
Paul started the bout circling the ring and staying well out of range, drawing boos as he repeatedly clinched and even tumbled to the canvas while Joshua tried to close the distance.
He had isolated moments of success with jabs and an occasional right hand, enough that judges could reasonably give him one or two of the first four rounds, but he never threatened to take control.
The fight tilted sharply in the fifth. Joshua finally pinned Paul down and began landing clean power shots, including a left hand that buckled Paul’s legs and a series of right hands that produced two official knockdowns in the round. Paul survived, but he returned to his corner visibly hurt and exhausted.
Joshua finished the job in the sixth. A heavy right hand sent Paul down again early in the round. Although Paul beat the count, he looked spent. Joshua walked him to the ropes, unloaded another combination and detonated a final right hand on Paul’s chin, dropping him for the fourth time. Paul failed to beat the referee’s count, with the stoppage recorded at 1:31 of Round 6.
After the fight, Joshua admitted the performance was scrappy but said the outcome was exactly what he had targeted.
He told the in‑ring interviewer that his “end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him,” adding that it “took a bit longer than expected” for the right hand to “find its destination.” He then used the moment to renew his callout of Tyson Fury, urging his rival to “put down the Twitter fingers” and fight him next year.
Paul, who said in his post‑fight interview that he believed his jaw was broken, acknowledged he had been comprehensively beaten but insisted he would continue his career at a more suitable weight, targeting a future cruiserweight world title after recovering.
