Joshua on Paul: “Many fighters wouldn’t get in the ring with me, but Jake did”

Former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua summed up his victory over influencer and boxer Jake Paul.

The Brit sent Jake to the canvas four times and scored a commanding sixth-round knockout, breaking his opponent’s jaw in two places. Joshua paid tribute to Paul’s fighting spirit, but admitted he was not satisfied with his own performance.

“There are a lot of things I could have done better — one hundred percent. In boxing we’ve seen outstanding fighters adorn this sport over the last hundred years. The standards we hold ourselves to are enormous, but I did the best I could. Jake showed himself well.

I would have liked to knock him out early, but as we saw tonight, Jake has spirit. He’s got heart. He tried his best and I take my hat off to him. First of all, a lot of fighters wouldn’t get in the ring with me, but Jake did. And secondly, even when he was knocked down, he kept getting back up.

In the clinch he did very well. When you’re in survival mode, you always find a way out. I was trying to find my shots. In fact, I wanted to work with my hands on the inside, but he was tying up my arms very well. And as you saw, when they were free, I tried to land a few body shots.

Yes, I tried to do that whenever I could. The fight was a bit messy. But from a systematic point of view, the right hand got through. It landed, and after that the referee stopped the fight. I would gladly have thrown more to the body, but it didn’t come together tonight. Maybe in the future. Either way, we got the job done.

I needed to perform better. It’s a win, but it’s not a triumph. I think my coach expects more from me, and I expect more from myself. But what can we do? You can’t turn back time. We have to move on and leave this in the past. After tonight you’ll probably see a lot of activity on social media chasing algorithms, but for me this is already behind me. I can’t live off this win. There’s still a lot I need to work on. So yes, I’m not satisfied,” Joshua said.

More detailed fight statistics are available via the link.