Anthony Joshua stops Jake Paul with sixth-round knockout in heavyweight bout: Live updates and reaction.
Anthony Joshua vowed to “take Jake Paul’s soul,” and on Friday night he delivered.
Joshua ended the fight in Round 6, flattening Paul with a thunderous right hand at the Kaseya Center in Miami. The knockout appeared to leave the YouTuber-turned-boxer with a broken jaw.
Many expected the eight-round heavyweight bout, streamed on Netflix, to be over quickly, but the fight dragged on as Paul relied heavily on lateral movement and avoided prolonged exchanges. The approach frustrated Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) early, with Paul making him miss several right hands and finding moments of success with his jab.
As Joshua pressed forward, Paul was repeatedly smothered and driven to the canvas under the weight of the larger man. The fight grew increasingly scrappy, prompting referee Chris Young to warn both fighters in Round 4 after a sharp Joshua uppercut caused problems for Paul.
“The fans aren’t paying to see this,” Young told them.
Joshua continued to find openings in Round 5, landing another uppercut that forced Paul to cling on before dropping to the canvas. Paul briefly had his best moment of the night later in the round, catching Joshua with an overhand right as he came forward.
Late in the fifth, Paul was knocked down for the first time, seemingly from an accumulation of blows rather than a single clean shot. He went down again near the two-minute mark after another heavy right from Joshua, surviving the round but visibly shaken.
The end came moments later, when Joshua finally broke through with a devastating right hand in the sixth, bringing the one-sided contest to a decisive finish.
