While Anthony Joshua defeated Jake Paul in decisive fashion via a sixth-round knockout during their Friday bout, the YouTube star turned boxer revealed on the Impaulsive podcast (2:15 mark) he believes he won multiple rounds.
“I won two rounds,” Paul said. “He won two. And then I got dropped. I was doing good, I just think my cardio and just the mental pressure of the big guy and sparring the big people is different than the 10 ounce gloves. So I was feeling his power a lot more. But it was a great experience, I learned a lot.”
Joshua scored two knockdowns in the fifth round and two more in the sixth before the knockout. It was clear who was going to win the scheduled eight-round match at Kaseya Center in Miami despite Paul avoiding the massive blows in the early going.
ESPN’s Andreas Hale noted “jeers rained down in the arena” in the first half of the fight with Paul making a clear effort to move away from Joshua.
Yet it was just a matter of time before Joshua delivered the knockout blow many in the crowd were chanting for, and he did just that in the sixth round.
Joshua is a two-time unified heavyweight champion and won the gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. He was a notable step up in competition compared to many of Paul’s former fights and ended up landing 48 of his 146 punches, per Hale.
By comparison, Paul landed 16 of his 56.
Paul broke his jaw during the loss and underwent surgery in the aftermath.
However, he also said on the podcast that he plans to continue boxing after taking some time off away from the sport (11:20 mark).