Even though Jake Paul was smashed by Anthony Joshua, he left Miami with the respect of the boxing community — including that of Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn.
Even though Jake Paul was defeated by former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua this past Friday in their highly-anticipated Netflix fight, Paul left the Kayesa Center in Miami with the respect of the boxing community — including that of Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn.
While some criticized the manner in which Paul fought, the majority of viewers were left impressed by how Paul performed in a bout in which he was given little chance of seeing the third round.
Hearn reflected on the contest at length Monday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show."
"I thought [Paul vs. Joshua] was much better than I thought it would be," Hearn admitted. "I know people are going to say, 'Well, Jake was running and Jake was [holding].' But at the end of the day, Jake had one job, and that was to try and survive. He was never, ever going to win the fight — ever, ever. If you'd have said to me, 'Do I think he will go six rounds?' I'd have said, 'Absolutely not.'
"I felt that it would take AJ a couple of rounds to get hold of him because I knew Jake can move a bit and he would be moving off the back foot and he'd be holding, but it was the way that he did it, I think was actually quite impressive. ... The way that he was strong in the clinch — he wouldn't let AJ get his shots off in the clinch. He made him miss a few times."
Joshua was made to miss with right hands in the early rounds and even ate a big overhand punch in Round 5. Paul successfully slowed down the pace of the fight with his jab and movement, and smothered Joshua at various points while in punching range. While it wasn't the prettiest game plan to watch, Paul employed survival tactics that a large portion of Joshua's former foes were unable to.
"Obviously AJ's been out of the ring for a while, but, to be honest, the most fascinating thing of the whole night, in terms of the fight, was how [Paul] didn't get flatlined by that right hand," Hearn said. "I said going into the fight, it was probably going to take AJ a few rounds to get hold of him, and I also said as soon as he lands clean, the fight's over. He landed a few before, but the first that he landed really clean was the final shot. He never flatlined Jake. He did break [Paul's] jaw in two places, which is a disaster, but there are a lot of heavyweights that would've been out cold from that right hand. One of them was Francis Ngannou in a pretty similar shot, really.
"I actually give Jake unbelievable credit for doing it in the first place, but his performance as well. I stand by the fact that I think he's just a decent cruiserweight, but he did go in with Anthony Joshua. The world is full of criticism and opinions and negativity. Who else is doing what he's doing? What is he, late 20s? Quite phenomenal. The guy's a complete madman. I'm watching him come out to that ring walk and he's just an incredible entertainer. I'm sort of standing in the ring, going, 'Is he for real?' And he did alright. I know people will talk about the holding, but his job was to survive, and he survived for nearly six complete rounds, which is remarkable."
"I used to think he was an average fighter," Hearn added. "Now I just think he's a decent cruiserweight. In my opinion, nowhere near world-class, but how many are? He's obviously got a really decent chin — maybe not anymore. But he did have a decent chin, because the shots that he stood up to and the final shot, he was conscious, he was trying to get up. I said before, he's dedicated himself to the sport. He's having serious training camps, he's got the best facilities, he's got the best training, he's got good sparring. So he's definitely improved."
Hearn told Uncrowned the long-term effects for Paul from fighting Joshua, in his view, are still unseen. The British promoter believes the American star will not step into a ring again for up to 12 months because of the damage Paul sustained against "AJ," which included a broken jaw.
Hearn and Paul have history. It was Hearn who controversially turned Paul professional in 2020 on a Demetrius Andrade undercard — also in Miami — against fellow influencer AnEsonGib. Paul destroyed AnEsonGib in the opening round, which paved the way for what has been a remarkable transition into professional boxing.
Hearn and Paul clashed two years later during their co-promotion for Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano 1, with Hearn memorably declaring Paul to be an "average" fighter. He's now upgraded Paul to "decent."
On the flip side, Joshua was a massive winner coming out of Friday's bout. When the Brit made his U.S. debut in 2019, the stage was set for him to arrive stateside in a big way; however, six weeks out, disaster struck. Joshua's scheduled opponent, Jarrell Miller, failed PED tests for three different banned substances, and in stepped Andy Ruiz Jr. Despite being given little chance, Ruiz sprung one of the biggest upsets in boxing history, knocking out Joshua in a night designed to be Joshua's U.S. coming-out party.
It was clear Joshua could be a major attraction in America even after his loss to Ruiz, but the opportunity was thought to have been missed. While Tyson Fury became a stateside superstar with his three fights against Deontay Wilder, "AJ" never returned to the U.S. and had no plans to until he got the call to face Paul on short notice. Joshua's stock has since skyrocketed due to the multi-million crossover audience offered by Netflix, and Hearn plans to build on that in 2026. In some ways, it's been the most significant fight of Joshua's career since beating Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 at Wembley Stadium.
"All in all, it was a wonderful experience for us," Hearn said of the Paul fight. "AJ made a fortune [and] his star power in the U.S. has gone through the roof. If you take any notice of the internet, he's just become like an icon, especially among the ladies. He's been an icon [in the UK] among the ladies for many decades, but now in the U.S. as well. People are kind of coming across him for the first time, which is quite strange when I see that on social media, because obviously from here, he's one of the most recognizable figures in sport.
"[But it was a] wonderful experience. It ticked every box — Profile, money, activity. It couldn't have gone better for us."
Joshua has been rumored to fight again on Feb. 14 in Saudi Arabia against kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven, but Hearn told Uncrowned that neither the date nor the opponent is locked in for Joshua's next fight. Hearn will meet with Saudi Arabian fight financier Turki Alalshikh this coming week to finalize Joshua's immediate future, which could see his return be delayed to mid-March. Whoever and whenever he fights next, though, the end goal still hasn't changed — a colossal 2026 fight with Fury.
"[Fury's] going to fight in April, so we don't want to sit out until September," Hearn said.
"We'd do [the Fury fight next], I don't mind doing that, but I don't think Tyson Fury will take the fight straight off the bat. ... We don't necessarily need another fight before Tyson Fury, but we're not going to wait until September, because right now AJ's message to me was, 'I want to go back to work. Let me have this week, and then I want to go back to Spain, go with Team Usyk, keep learning.'
"Don't forget that was his first fight with completely new people, with a completely new team. He loves working with those guys, and I think he's going to get better and better with them. We're happy to fight, but happy also to go into the Tyson Fury fight. To be honest, anything could happen, but we've told [Alalshikh] we're in for that fight. So we'll get with him and focus on those finer details and then get the plan together for 2026."
Category: General Sports
