Anthony Joshua unhappy with bizarre Jake Paul fight: 'I expect more from myself'

Carmen Mandato via Getty Images

Jake Paul surprised boxing on Friday when he survived six rounds before succumbing to Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight power at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.

There's little Paul has done in his pro career that could've prepared him for fight a two-time unified heavyweight champion like Joshua, however the 28-year-old recruited veteran contenders Jared Anderson, Frank Sanchez and Lawrence Okolie for sparring partners ahead of the Netflix fight, and his efforts were enough for Joshua to regard Paul's boxing to be “an elite level.”

“In the clinch, he done really well,” Joshua said of Paul at Friday's post-fight press conference. “When you're in survival mode, you'll always try to find a way. He did well to tie my hands up, and when they were free, I tried to land a few body shots. I tried when I could. It was a bit messy.

“But from a systematical breakdown, the right hand landed and found its home. I'd have loved to have landed more body shots, but we got the job done in the end.”

Paul landed only 16 shots on Joshua, and spent most of the early rounds dancing around the ring to evade exchanges. Regardless, there were sequences in which the American landed single shots, if not two-punch combos, on his more experienced opponent.

Joshua landed 48 of his own 146 punches but even he appeared tentative at the start of the fight, despite his advantages in height, reach, weight, experience, power, and skills. Joshua admitted afterward that he was "not happy" with his performance.

"I needed to do better,” Joshua said. “It's a win, but it's not a success. I think my coach expects more from me and I expect more from myself.

"There was a lot riding on this fight, a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations. So I had to perform."

Joshua said he was ready for the only two scenarios he thought Paul was realistically going to bring to the ring. He’d either come full-steam ahead, forcing "AJ" to box on the back foot, or he’d “move around the ring at 100 miles an hour,” Joshua said. And, with that strategy, the only thing Joshua could do to negate that was “shut Jake down at 100 miles an hour.”

“Jake decided to move around the ring and I decided to put the pressure on," he said. "What I could have done better is a lot of things, 100%.”

Paul lasting almost 18 minutes in the fight came at a cost. Unlike Joshua, who attended the post-fight press conference with his long-time promoter Eddie Hearn, Paul was transported to hospital instead with a broken jaw.

“Those injuries are difficult to come back from,” Hearn said.

“I think his game plan — which was very negative, but it had to be, was smart. There were times he held his feet and let his hands go. You have to give him credit and respect.

“He showed he has ability. He's done well.”

“Jake has spirit, he has some heart," Joshua added. "He tried his best, and I take my hat off to him, because a lot of fighters haven't gotten in the ring with me, and Jake did.

“Even when he was getting knocked down, he kept trying to get up. So, America, I think you have someone who, potentially, can come again and sell out this [arena] in 2026, maybe against Gervonta Davis, maybe against Ryan Garcia.”

As for what’s next, Joshua could return in the spring of 2026, per Hearn, but whether that’s against the kickboxing sensation Rico Verhoeven, or someone else, remains to be seen.

"We've been talking, a couple of opponents mentioned," Hearn said. 

"In an ideal world [spring] would be the time. Rico, or whoever it is, we haven't finalized that yet, but the date is something we'll work on in the next four or five days.

“The plan is to fight in the spring and then, obviously, Tyson Fury [in the fall].”