Jake Paul has delivered a surprising assessment of his knockout defeat to heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua, insisting he was leading on the scorecards during the early stages of their bout.
Paul's Controversial Scorecard
The social media star turned professional boxer suffered a sixth-round stoppage at the hands of the former Olympian on a night that saw him hit the canvas multiple times. Anthony Joshua broke Jake Paul's jaw in two places on his way to securing the victory, which was Paul's second professional loss after his 2023 defeat to Tommy Fury.
Despite the emphatic nature of the finish, Paul maintains he had significant success in the fight's opening exchanges. Speaking on his brother Logan's Impaulsive podcast, the 28-year-old claimed: "I won two rounds then he won two, then I got dropped."
Reflections on Power and Preparation
Paul elaborated on the physical challenge of facing an elite heavyweight, noting the difference between sparring and the actual fight. "My cardio, just the mental pressure of the big guy, and sparring the big people is different than the 10oz gloves so I was feeling his power a lot more," he explained.
The fighter expressed regret about his preparation time, stating: "I wish I had more than like three weeks to put on more muscle so I could really hit him. My biggest mistake was not doing altitude training."
Remarkably, Paul even suggested he had moments of superiority during the contest. "I had him wobbled at one point," he claimed, before conceding that "he had his hands up better this fight."
Legal Action Over Fight-Fixing Claims
In the aftermath of the bout, Paul's legal team has moved to address persistent rumours that the fight was pre-arranged. Speculation had circulated before the event suggesting Joshua had agreed not to knock out his opponent.
Both camps denied these allegations, but they have continued to spread online. Paul's business partner, Nakisa Bidarian, has vowed to take legal action against those promoting the theory.
"Our lawyers are actively going after a number of people," Bidarian told the Ariel Helwani show. He specifically referenced one viral post that claimed: "there was an agreement for AJ not to knock out Jake but AJ disregarded it and decided to forego his payday to knock out Jake Paul."
Bidarian strongly refuted any suggestion of impropriety, stating: "There has never once in Jake Paul's career been any talk of that sort... It is just beyond mind-blowing that people would think that."
The fight itself saw Paul dropped twice in the fifth round before Joshua secured the finish in the sixth. Paul's unconventional tactics, including attempted wrestling takedowns, became a talking point among boxing observers.
Despite the defeat and his subsequent indefinite suspension from boxing, Paul described the experience as educational. "It was a great experience, I learnt a lot in there," he reflected, while admitting to feeling "a little disappointed" about areas where he could have performed better.
