Anthony Joshua got the stoppage in round six because Jake Paul could only bluff resistance for so long. Four or five knockdowns, depending on how you count them. Some clean, some just a man losing his legs. All pointed to the same thing: once Joshua closed distance, Paul couldn’t hold form, couldn’t clinch properly, and eventually couldn’t keep his mouth intact. A broken jaw turns make-believe into consequences. x This was scheduled for eight. It was never living that long. Joshua hadn’t boxed since the Dubois defeat, and he fought like a man who didn’t care about answers, only silence. No real jab rhythm. No layered offense. Just size and blunt force against a cruiserweight influencer masquerading as a heavyweight. Paul bought time into the fifth with movement, smothering, and making Joshua miss. But making a heavyweight miss isn’t forcing doubt. Paul never stitched defensive moments into offense. The second he tried to set his feet, he got clipped. When A Heavyweight Breaks Your Face, The Learning Curve Ends The first knockdown in the fifth was the pivot. A right hand, a collapse, a man trying to breathe through a damaged jaw. Joshua didn’t sharpen his output. He didn’t need to. He threw again, Paul fell again, and the referee watched a losing argument continue out of habit. By the sixth, the ritual repeated. Paul beat the counts because he’s stubborn, not because he was functional. No threat back. No timing. No chance of stabilising when every punch feels like someone tapping the fracture. That’s where toughness stops being admirable and starts being self-harm. The ref finally waved it off. Fury Call-Outs Don’t Erase Six Rounds Of Hesitation Joshua told Netflix it “wasn’t the best performance” and then immediately pivoted into Fury rhetoric. That’s what you do when the ring work doesn’t speak for itself. Asking Fury to “put on gloves and fight a real fighter” isn’t conviction. It’s displacement. A man who needed five rounds to bully a YouTuber isn’t dictating heavyweight terms. He leaned on the layoff without naming it, talked about taking Paul’s soul, and called this “systematic breakdown.” That’s language fighters use when the tape shows drift. If your jab controls nothing and adjustment takes half the fight, that’s not a breakdown. That’s gravity doing the job. Paul’s Jaw Is Broken. The Denial Isn’t. Paul barely landed a meaningful shot, but he took the damage anyway. He admitted on camera he spat blood and believes his jaw is broken. Survival isn’t competitiveness. Managing to stay upright doesn’t equal progress. Saying you’ll “heal up and go win a cruiserweight world title” is confidence insulated by bank accounts. Paul says he lasted because of effort, not ingenuity. A heavyweight leaned on him until the structure gave out. If he keeps rewriting that as improvement, the next scan won’t be better. The Post-Fight Interview Shows The Delusion Breathing In an interview with Ariel Helwani on the Netflix broadcast, Paul gave Joshua credit, avoided excuses, and then drifted back into ambition. “Anthony’s a great fighter. I got my ass beat,. He said he’ll take a break after six years of “boxing ventures,” praised Joshua as one of the best to ever do it, and promised to “come back and keep on winning.” He said he thinks his jaw is broken, admitted he spat blood mid-interview, and still claimed he wasn’t surprised he reached round six. He blamed fatigue, weight-handling, cardio—everything but the gap in structure. He says he “for sure” will continue boxing and wants a cruiserweight world title, but declined to name opponents. That’s not matchmaking. That’s wish projection. If Joshua Brings This Version To Riyadh, Someone Else Breaks Something Joshua leaves Miami talking about 2026. That tells you he knows tonight doesn’t argue for immediate danger. If Fury really is next, the first clean counter won’t come from a flailing cruiserweight who panics in clinches. It will come from a heavyweight who feints, steps, and punishes pauses. If Joshua shows up that loose in Riyadh, the reality check bends the other way.
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