Joshua: ‘I wish that I could have knocked him out at the start’

Former unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua secured a knockout victory over Jake Paul in the sixth round at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on Friday night.

Contested as a sanctioned professional heavyweight bout over 8, three-minute rounds with 10-ounce gloves, Joshua (29-4, 25 KOs) dropped Paul (12-2, 7 KOs) in the fourth, fifth, and finally put it away with a vicious right hand with 1:31 in the sixth.

Paul, who indicated after the fight that his jaw might have been broken, was not available at the post-fight press conference.

After the win, the 36-year-old Joshua, who fought for the first time in 15 months, says he wished he had knocked Paul out sooner, but he gave Paul credit for showing resilience.

“The expectations that we put on ourselves are immense, but I tried my best,” Joshua said. “Jake [did] well while it lasted….I wish that I could have knocked him out at the start, but as we saw tonight, Jake has spirit. He has some heart. He tried his best, and I take my hat off to him because number one, a lot of fighters haven’t got in the ring with me, and Jake did. And secondly, even when he got knocked down, he kept on trying to get up, and I take my hat off to him. So, America, I think you have someone who could potentially, if he still has the heart for it, come back again, dust the dirt off his shoulder, and come again, and maybe sell out this center sometime in 2026. “

While he won, Joshua says he has to be better.

“No. I needed to do better,” he said. “No, it’s a win, but it’s not a success. I think my coach expects more from me, and I expect more for myself. But what can we do? We can’t reverse the clock. I have to move forward. I have to put that in the past now. After today, you may see a bit of social media trying to lap up all of the algorithm attention, but for me, it’s in the past. I can’t live off of that win. I’ve got a lot of improvement that I need to do, so yeah, I’m not happy.”

Joshua indicated he is open to fighting Tyson Fury, which could be a lucrative showdown in the UK.

Regarding the 28-year-old Paul, he did his best, but his best wasn’t good enough. In the end, Joshua was too big, too strong, and too good. Fortunately, Paul has a name, so there are other big fights for him moving forward.

Photo: Esther Lin/Most Valuable Promotions)