“I’m going to break his face,” Anthony Joshua said during a press conference last month, ahead of Friday’s fight against influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul. Unfortunately for Paul, that was a prophetic statement.
The Netflix main event was a slog, ending in a sixth-round knockout after Paul was unable to get up in time following a big right hook to the jaw from Joshua. Paul was knocked down four times during the bout, with the last time ending the fight.
“I think my jaw is broken,” Paul said after the loss, the second of his career. “Man, that was good. Nice little a-- whooping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this s---, and I’ll be back to get a world championship belt at some point.”
That, too, was prophetic. Following the fight, Paul made his way to University of Miami Hospital, where he says he had two titanium plates inserted into each side of his face and had teeth removed.
Paul drops to 12–2 in his career, with his previous loss coming to Tommy Fury in 2023. In the 36-year-old Joshua, he took on a much more experienced fighter, and one who entered the ring with a five-inch height advantage and weighed in at 243.4 pounds to Paul’s 216.6. “This is insane,” Paul told Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix ahead of the fight. “I am a madman. I am out of my f---ing mind.”
Joshua, a former gold-medalist and heavyweight title-holder, is now 29–4 with 26 knockouts.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jake Paul Shares Update From Hospital After Surgery Following Anthony Joshua Fight.