Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul’s battle on Friday was hardly a basic, although many followers got their want of seeing the YouTube star undergo a stoppage defeat.
Joshua, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, struggled to pin down the evasive Paul in the early rounds but finally discovered the goal.
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• Follow LIVE: Joshua vs Paul fallout as Briton stops YouTuber in six rounds
He dropped Paul 4 occasions in the center rounds of a scheduled eight, finally forcing the stoppage in the sixth body at Miami’s Kaseya Centre.
Meanwhile, Paul’s offence was extraordinarily restricted, with the American opting to dive at Joshua’s legs repeatedly all through the bout – seemingly in a bid to keep away from harm and buy time.
Now, Compubox’s statistics for the battle have listed Paul, 28, as having landed a meagre 16 punches from 56 thrown in the five-and-a-half accomplished rounds. Still, some viewers will have been impressed that Paul even managed to land that many.
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Meanwhile, Joshua is credited with 48 profitable punches from 154 thrown. That places his proportion of success at 33 per cent, while Paul’s stands at 29 per cent.
Joshua came in for criticism of his efficiency in many corners, with promoter Lou DiBella tweeting: “The guy who should feel ashamed right now is Anthony Joshua … that was his legacy. Paul is a great businessman. AJ doesn’t give two s***s about #boxing.”
Journalist Kevin Iole added: “He won’t with $100 million on the table to fight [Tyson] Fury, but AJ ought to retire. That was an epically bad performance.”
But Joshua’s job was difficult by Paul not only diving at his legs steadily but also skipping away for the majority of the battle – and at occasions operating away.
Anthony Joshua (proper) making an attempt to pin down Jake Paul (AP)
As the shorter man, Paul was also in a position to duck away into secure areas when backed against the ropes, although at other occasions he selected to crash into a stalking “AJ” to keep away from the most-dangerous vary.
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But Joshua finally discovered the pictures required to put away the American, even main Paul to claim that he had suffered a damaged jaw.
Joshua, 36, said in his post-fight interview: “It wasn’t the best performance. The end goal was to get him, pin him down and hurt him. That’s what people wanted, that was on my mind. It took longer than expected.
“Now, Jake Paul has done really well tonight. He got up, time and time again. It was difficult for me in there. We give them their respect, he tried and tried, but he came up against a real fighter in there.
“I saw Eddie [Hearn, promoter] saying: ‘Get him now!’ I said I’d take his soul, see it leaving his body round after round. I said it, and it happened. I understand the psychology of fighting.”
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