Jake Paul has revealed he required a second surgical intervention on his jaw, two months after sustaining a severe injury during his knockout loss to former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. The controversial bout took place in December, with Joshua stopping Paul in the sixth round of their high-profile boxing match.
Paul's Injury and Humorous Recovery Posts
The 29-year-old American social media influencer turned professional boxer suffered a broken jaw in that defeat, necessitating immediate surgery shortly after the fight. Now, Paul has disclosed that further medical treatment was required due to complications with the initial procedure.
"Had to get another jaw surgery," Paul wrote on his Instagram account. "The screws and plates were coming loose because apparently I didn't rest for the past 2 months whaattttttttt."
Paul shared photographs and video footage from his hospital bed, accompanied by his girlfriend Jutta Leerdam, the Dutch speed-skating champion who recently won gold and silver medals at the Winter Olympics. Demonstrating his characteristic humor during recovery, Paul included edited clips showing himself with a mechanized jaw apparatus.
Mechanized Jaw Mockery
"How about that for you? All that chrome in there, that's the hinge and the new teeth," Paul quipped in one clip. "Runs on tiny servos, super smooth." In another edited segment, Paul pretended he could detach one side of his jaw, revealing what appeared to be wiring and robotics inside the mechanism.
"What is that? Ask how I get millions of views. Pretty wild, right? Watch this. Good as new. Keep it between us," the boxer added with his trademark showmanship.
Joshua's Contrasting Circumstances
While Paul maintains a lighthearted approach to his recovery process, the past two months have presented significantly more sobering challenges for Anthony Joshua despite his victory in the ring.
Just ten days after defeating Paul, the 36-year-old British boxer was involved in a tragic car accident in Nigeria that claimed the lives of two of his teammates, Sina Ghami and Latif "Latz" Ayodele. Joshua returned to training in January after paying tribute to his deceased friends, but his competitive return to boxing remains uncertain.
Promoter's Update on Joshua's Future
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn provided an update on the fighter's potential return during a Thursday interview. "Look, originally the plan with 'AJ' was for him to fight in March, and then fight Tyson Fury in August," Hearn explained. "That's not happening, he's not fighting Tyson Fury next."
"He's going to come back – I believe – late summer, but physically he's not yet in a position to return to camp," Hearn continued. "So, I'm planning, but he's just resting and preparing. So for me, I'm looking at options to get him back in the ring in July time, but we'll only know if that's a real possibility when he returns to camp, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks or a month."
When questioned about whether Joshua's next bout might serve as a preparatory fight for more challenging competition, Hearn responded: "I think every fight's dangerous, coming off what he's come off, but yeah, I think... We're open to the Tyson Fury fight, but probably more likely end of the year, maybe early 2027."
Prior to December's tragic accident, Joshua had been linked with a potential match against kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven. However, Hearn indicated different possibilities: "I believe he's fighting... rumours of him fighting [Oleksandr] Usyk, yeah." Usyk, who defeated Joshua twice on points in previous encounters, currently holds the unified heavyweight championship title.
