When rumours began to circulate about a possible fight involving Jake Paul and Antony Joshua, many boxing fans dismissed it as nonsense. The idea that someone with Paul’s lack of boxing pedigree would step into the ring with a former heavyweight champion seemed too ludicrous to contemplate. Yes, he had already taken on a 58-year-old Mike Tyson, but that seemed more of an exhibition fight against someone so past their prime that they should not have been fighting. Indeed, only months earlier, Tyson had suffered a severe stomach ulcer that saw him lose 26 pounds.
As it turned out, though, the rumours were credible, and it was soon confirmed that Paul and Joshua would enter the ring the following month. What followed came as little surprise, with Joshua absolutely dominating the fight and winning via a knockout in the sixth round. At no point was there any danger of the Brit losing the bout; it was only a matter of when it would end.
Streamed on Netflix and made available to their 300m subscribers, it was a fight that many tuned in for, but what did they witness? Was this a legitimate fight between two boxers really giving it their all, or an orchestrated battle that enabled the pair to rake in millions?
Image credit: Michael Potts F1 / Shutterstock.com.
Paul vs Joshua – A Proper Fight?
Sometimes fights such as these can be exhibitions, but this was a proper fight on paper. It was officially sanctioned, with each round lasting the full three minutes, and boxers wore 10-oz gloves. The duration was cut, though, capped at eight rounds rather than the standard twelve, but this was never likely to impact the fight. The only out-of-the-ordinary request made was that Joshua must weigh in at 245 pounds or less. In a normal heavyweight bout, there would be no upper weight limit, but Paul’s camp asked for this to ensure there would not be a giant gulf between the two fighters, as Paul weighed in at 216 pounds.
JAKE PAUL vs. ANTHONY JOSHUA
LIVE only on Netflix
TOMORROW, December 19
8 PM ET | 5 PM PT#JakeJoshua pic.twitter.com/FnnI8y0Rab— Netflix (@netflix) December 19, 2025
This was not much of a sacrifice for Joshua to make, and certainly not one that impacted him in any significant way. He had fought at 252 pounds in the previous two fights (Dubois and Ngannou) but was weighed in at 244 pounds for his second clash with Oleksandr Usyk. So, it was not as though he had to lose masses in a matter of weeks.
Could Joshua Have Ended the Fight Sooner?
The reason that you can claim this was not a ‘proper’ fight is that ordinarily, boxers will go at it right from the first bell. This does not mean going flat out, as fighters need to spare energy to go the distance, but they will still be trying to hurt their opponent. With Joshua vs Paul, however, there was a feeling that Joshua was perhaps under some instruction to take the opening four rounds a little easy, to make a show of things.
You can see how punches landed per round jump up dramatically after round four. Bear in mind, round six was stopped at the halfway point, with Joshua on course for another successful 20+ punch round had Paul been able to withstand it.
| Round | Joshua Punches Landed |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 7 |
| 4 | 4 |
| 5 | 20 |
| 6 | 11 |
Others say this increase is largely because Paul got tired. He had spent the opening round dancing around the ring, falling to the floor and trying to avoid Joshua as much as possible. After four rounds, however, all that moving caught up with him. No longer able to flee, the pair then began exchanging punches at a far higher rate. It was not so much about Joshua not trying, more that it was just difficult for him to land good shots due to Paul’s unwillingness to go glove-to-glove and frequent attempts to grab Joshua by the waist/legs.
While there are certainly merits to this stance, we lean more towards that if Joshua wanted to end this fight much sooner, he could have done so, such is the mismatch between the two fighters. Paul, while far from a complete amateur, has built up his career in boxing by mainly fighting nobodies, has-beens or UFC fighters. His fight against Julio César Chávez Jr. in June did represent a win over a non-retired, lifetime boxer, but even then, Chavez had only fought once in the previous three years and was undergoing drug rehabilitation.
There is an enormous gulf in power and quality between Joshua and Paul, to the extent that the American was brave enough to even step into the ring. The rare times when Paul landed a clean shot on the Englishman, it barely even seemed to register. He surely must have known he would have been badly beaten up, but most would agree a reported £70m purse is a price well worth paying for a double broken jaw. Some will argue that lasting more than five rounds against such a formidable opponent represents a success, but the opening four rounds barely resembled a genuine boxing contest. One fighter appeared intent on doing as little actual boxing as possible, while the other seemed content to coast without ever fully engaging — possibly by design.