The much-anticipated fight between Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul delivered excitement at the Kaseya Center in Miami on December 19, 2025. Joshua, two-time heavyweight champion and Olympic gold medalist, faced Paul, the YouTube sensation turned professional boxer, in a bout streamed on Netflix.
Round-by-Round Highlights
Round 1: Paul moved cautiously, staying at distance and trying to land body shots. Joshua’s jabs and counters kept him in control. The opening round saw minimal action but set the tone for Joshua’s strategy.
Round 2: Joshua’s precision became evident as he landed clean jabs and a left hook, wobbing Paul. Clinches occurred, but Joshua’s timing dominated the exchanges.
Round 3: Paul attempted aggressive in-fighting and clinching, but Joshua’s counters and combinations kept him ahead. Paul’s mobility helped him survive the round, though he struggled to land significant shots.
Round 4: Both fighters exchanged punches in the center, with Joshua landing effective jabs and uppercuts. Paul’s occasional clinches and rolls slowed momentum, but Joshua’s clean strikes kept him in control.
Round 5: Joshua opened up with powerful combinations to the body and head. Paul took a knee multiple times to recover, and a controversial knockdown was called. Joshua continued to pressure and dominate exchanges.
Round 6: Joshua’s precision and power overwhelmed Paul. After multiple knockdowns and relentless attacks, the referee stopped the fight at 1:31, declaring Anthony Joshua the winner via KO.
Joshua’s victory showcased his experience, timing, and power, ending Paul’s six-fight winning streak and reinforcing his heavyweight dominance.
Official Result: Anthony Joshua def. Jake Paul via KO (Round 6, 1:31)
Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua had some much hype coming into their Netflix boxing fight Friday night in Miami, Florida.
However, fans in attendance and around the world were highly disappointed with the showing when the two heavyweight stars stepped into the ring.
Anthony Joshua came away with a sixth-round knockout of Paul, which was certainly longer than the Englishman wanted the fight to go. Prior to stepping into the ring, Joshua maintained that anything other than a first-round win would be a disappointment.
Jake Paul was seen dancing around the ring for most of the night despite landing a few quality jabs. His showmanship and dodging ability largely contributed to the YouTube star lasting as long as he did.
Joshua was quick to thank the crowd after the fight before stating that his goal was to “hurt Jake Paul.” The two-time heavyweight champion stayed gracious with his victory and called out Tyson Fury after the victory.
For the first time in the ring in over 15 months, Anthony Joshua bounced back from his shocking loss to Daniel Dubois. The fight marked the second time Joshua has competed on American soil after previously losing to Andy Ruiz years ago.
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Meanwhile, Paul picks up his second professional loss after previously losing to Tommy Fury. The younger Paul brother surprised fans by being gracious in defeat, however, he did state he will be a champion in the future.
Jake Paul talked a big game before his bout with Anthony Joshua on Friday, but his controversial approach left fans frustrated and even the announcing team angry at times.
Paul lost on a sixth-round knockout, but not before fans grew upset at several falls that Paul took in what some saw as an attempt to extend the match. The former YouTube star turned boxer came into the fight as a big underdog and was able to make it six rounds against the former Olympic champion, but not before sparking some major backlash among fans.
Paul’s approach sparked a big backlash, with many fans taking to social media to mock his several falls.
Announcers for the Netflix bout called out Paul for his “putrid” approach, throwing fewer than 10 punches in several rounds. Paul fell to the canvas several times while grappling with Anthony in the fourth round, including one time when he appeared to take a knee to the groin and took several moments to return to the bout.
Paul took two falls in the fifth round, withstanding a flurry of punches just before the bell to end the round. He went down again early in the sixth round, then again with 1:33 remaining when the fight was stopped.
Paul had plenty of confidence before the bout, saying in a pre-fight press conference that he believed he was a better fighter than the Olympic gold medalist.
“On paper, the cards are stacked against me but really, in terms of boxing, I’m a better boxer than AJ which is like a hilarious thing to say but he’s got two left feet, he’s stiff,” Paul told reporters, via Bloody Elbow.
The former social media star turned boxer went on to mock Joshua, bringing his typical theatrics to the press conference.
“If I was his coach I would put him in a dance class first, before trying to box,” Paul said. “And really, just bringing in the right sparring partners to help me prepare so that I can get looks that are similar to him and that’s really just been the strategy but I’m gonna go in there and display all my skills.”
Paul told ESPN that he believed he would pull off the upset.
“I’ve studied David and Goliath going into this fight,” Paul said. “There’s a split-second moment where Goliath draws back his arrow, and that’s when David can hit him. I believe the same thing will happen here. There’s going to be a moment when Joshua is exposed, and I know I have the power to be able to beat him.”
Sanctioned Fight Sparked Controversy
Even before Paul and Anthony stepped into the ring on Friday, their fight was generating controversy. ESPN’s Mark Kriegel wrote that it was a “disgrace” that the Florida State Athletic Commission sanctioned the fight despite the massive disparities in size and experience between the fighters.
He suggested that it would have never been sanctioned had Paul been a “lesser-known 12-1 cruiserweight and not a promoter.”
“I’m not a prude here. Nor a hater,” Kriegel wrote. “I don’t expect anyone to get seriously hurt, especially not when the promoter and fighter are one and the same. My bet’s on a muffled affair in the name of commerce. But there’s still that terrible chance, and now (thank you, Florida), a terrible precedent.”
But his rivalry with Fury has once again become a sideshow this week, as reports gather pace that the pair are set to do battle in 2026.
Fury posted a video on his Instagram story branding his long-term foe a ‘classless loser’, in response to Joshua’s suggestion he will ‘kill’ Paul if given the opportunity.
On the eve of Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua, promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed the size of the ring that will be used for Friday’s fight – and it has become a major talking point.
There are certain stipulations in place as natural cruiserweight Paul moves up to heavyweight. For the first time in his career, Joshua has a strict contracted weight limit ahead of the eight-round bout.
The 36-year-old, who weighed just over 252lbs for his fight against Daniel Dubois last year, cannot weigh more than 245lbs, although there is no restriction on how much weight he can put on after the official weigh-in.
As well as AJ’s weight, Eddie Hearn was recently asked about the specific rules for this weekend’s clash.
“Same as any professional fight, you know, and we wouldn’t do anything different, which is eight rounds, 10 ounce gloves, eight three minute rounds,” Hearn told Forbes. “The weight is 245 pounds, but that’s just because Jake’s coming up from cruiserweight.”
Joshua’s team had ‘no interest’ in anything other than legitimate professional boxing rules, according to Hearn.
Eddie Hearn confirms ring size for Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua
With two days until fight night, Hearn has confirmed to IFL TV that the ring size for Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua will be 22×22 feet, which is bigger than the standard size for professional bouts, which is 20×20 feet.
Here’s how fans on social media reacted to the news.
One said: “More space for Jake Paul to run away into. AJ with 10oz gloves he better move quick,” while a second commented: “Yeah so Jake Paul can run away around the ring and try avoid Joshua’s right hand.”
A third wrote: “I doubt a 21% bigger ring is going to make that much of a difference. It might let Jake run around a bit more freely but the issue is, for Jake to be in range, he has to also be in range for AJ. He’s screwed either way.”
A fourth said: “Plenty of space for Jake Paul to hide,” and a fifth added: “There will be a lot of running.”
Jake Paul hits back at Deontay Wilder over claims that Anthony Joshua fight is ‘scripted’
Jake Paul is threatening legal action for Deontay Wilder after he claimed this Friday’s super-fight could be somehow ‘scripted’.
Baseless claims around Paul’s bouts being fixed in some way tend to circulate for every fight. But no event has been affected more so than this weekend on Netflix when he faces Anthony Joshua at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
There is a belief that Paul and Joshua is such a mismatch that anything other than a quick knockout for the Brit means the fix is in. However, this would be a federal crime, and Paul has hired top legal aid to help battle defamatory claims that he is engaged in rigged boxing matches.
Jake Paul slams Deontay Wilder over claims his fight with Anthony Joshua is rigged
Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua came head-to-head this evening for the first time on fight week as they completed their final press conference. The size difference is still as clear as ever, but the American is now beginning to drop his respectful tone and start going at his opponent and others.
One man who drew his ire was Deontay Wilder, who during his visit to Dubai last week told Bloody Elbow and others that he fears the fix may be in for this Friday’s show. There is no basis for this claim, and Paul has frequently made explicit and prolonged denials.
Asked what answer he gives to those who claim the bout is rigged, he replied: “I give them a cease and desist letter through their door. Then the lawsuit is coming right after because these people will not stop lying.
“I honestly take it as a compliment but people need to shut the f— up. As for Deontay Wilder, he’s been hit a lot by Tyson Fury so he’s clearly not the smartest guy. There’s nothing in the contract, AJ can attest to it that we’re going to war. At the end of the day, that’s what all of my fights have been like.”
Joshua also briefly replied to the accusation, insisting that the bout is fully legitimate and that there is “nothing in the contract” stopping him obliterating Paul.
Anthony Joshua opens up on crushing Daniel Dubois defeat and reveals why he needed year off
Anthony Joshua took a deep look at himself after his crushing defeat to Daniel Dubois in September 2024.
The Watford powerhouse was dropped four times en route to being blown away in five rounds by Dubois.
While Joshua showed immense heart to continually get back to his feet and roll the dice, it felt like the closing of the penultimate chapter in his career.
The defeat was equally damaging and unforgiving, and it led to a lengthy 15-month hiatus from the ring.
A decent chunk of his time on the sidelines was filled by the surgery and subsequent rehabilitation of a lingering shoulder injury.
However, it was also an important period of reflection.
Anthony Joshua opens up about Daniel Dubois loss
“I always say this: For every time you win, there is a reason, for every time you lose, there is a reason,” said Joshua on his YouTube channel.
“So… why I pause is, when you lose, you tend to take a deeper look at yourself.
“Take time to figure out what went wrong.
“I had to look at the reasons why I lost, and I said to myself, ‘I think I need a bit of time.’
“I predicted this moment in… 2018? Not the loss, but the work I was taking on was a lot.
“Inside training, preparing for fights, working outside of boxing – for any man or any woman, at some stage, they probably need a bit of a reset.
“I came to that stage really in 2025, where it was that time.
“I thought, ‘You know what, I think I need a year out of the game.’”
Joshua’s break from competition comes to an end on Friday night when he locks horns with YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul.
The pair are set to square off in a professional heavyweight clash that Joshua is expected to end inside two rounds.
Providing everything goes to plan, he will make a quick turnaround in February before diving into a blockbuster showdown with Tyson Fury in the summer.
According to Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, AJ has accepted his side of the agreement.
Anthony Joshua has told Tyson Fury it is up to him whether they finally meet in the ring next year.
Joshua and Fury are being lined up for a long-anticipated fight as part of Riyadh Season in 2026, with a September date in London pencilled in. No deal has been finalised but there is growing confidence that a fight will take place and both camps are working towards making it happen in 2026.
But Joshua has said he will not be the one to hold up the fight, telling Reuters: “It’s up to Fury. I’ve signed to fight him a number of times. I don’t want to get my hopes up and be let down again.”
Fury and Joshua will take to the ring in separate fights in the early part of 2026 as part of Riyadh Season, with Joshua fighting in Saudi Arabia in February with Fury to follow shortly afterwards. The two former world heavyweight champions have never fought each other despite being close to a match-up in 2021 which never materialised in what would have been a fight for the undisputed heavyweight crown.
Fury is currently retired after he suffered successive defeats to Oleksandr Usyk while Joshua is looking to get back on track following his fifth-round knockout by former IBF champion Daniel Dubois in September 2024. Before that, though, Joshua will take on Jake Paul in an eight-round fight in Miami on Friday night.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren, meanwhile, confirmed no agreement has been reached. “There’s been some talks going on, there’s nothing been signed yet, but Tyson’s indicated if it’s the right deal, he’ll definitely do it,” he told Sky Sports News.
“I think it’s going in the right direction and hopefully we’ll get some news pretty soon as to what’s going to happen. I do believe it will happen. AJ’s fighting, or whatever you want to call it, this week against Jake Paul and there’s talk of him fighting again early in 2026.
“Tyson’s been out for a while now. He may have a warm-up fight but if this fight happens – which I believe it will – it will be sometime in late summer. So that’s another seven months away, so he’ll certainly have a fight in between I think if he comes back.
“He has been in the gym full-time training very hard. He’s in great nick, he looks well and he’s said many times himself he would like to come back and fight again. And 2026 I believe, provided the deal’s right, I think you’ll see him back in the ring again.”
DEONTAY WILDER INTERVIEW: Former heavyweight champion on being ‘stabbed in the back’ by those closest to him, overcoming years of mental health struggles – and his plans to face Anthony Joshua in Africa
Deontay Wilder does not hesitate when asked what went wrong. Not against Joseph Parker. Not against Zhilei Zhang. Not in the fights that prompted so many to declare the former heavyweight champion finished.
‘It definitely was psychological for sure,’ Wilder told Clubhouse Boxing. ‘My performances were poor due to my mental state rather than my physical. My physical state was great. I felt great and I feel great now. I can still whack. Come on, we don’t need to question that. But, mentally, if that goes, so does the body. You don’t have an engine no more. It’s done.’
For more than a decade, Wilder’s engine seemed endless. From a late-starting Olympic bronze medalist to the most feared knockout artist in boxing, he captured the WBC heavyweight title in 2015 and defended it ten times, his right hand erasing entire game plans in a second. Even after two brutal losses to Tyson Fury ended his reign, the belief remained that Wilder’s power alone could carry him forward. What few saw was the damage accumulating far from the ring.
‘It’s been tough,’ he said. ‘It’s been tough going through the journey that I’ve had to go through over the years. And I’m talking about outside of the ring. Outside of the ring has been the major battle of my life. But I’m still here. I’m so happy at this moment in time in my life. I feel great. Everything is going good. I had to go through that rough patch to get here and it was definitely rough.’
By ‘rough patch,’ Wilder meant betrayal. ‘If you never felt it, it’s worse than a heartbreak,’ he said. ‘Especially when people are so close to you. You don’t see certain things when you’ve got so much going on. You’re doing good. You’re helping out everybody. And then you are stabbed in the back by those close to you.
‘After that, things were never the same anymore. I was uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to expect next week or next month. So it was like the fun is over. The party bus is coming to a stop, so let me get off at the next exit.’
‘The people that hurt you the most are the people that are closer to you,’ he added. ‘That’s the worst. That’s the hardest. That’s what hurts you the most. I learnt the hard way. People I never thought or suspected were the ones going behind my back.’
For a man who has always prided himself on mental toughness, the low point was unfamiliar. ‘I always felt like I could handle it. My mind is strong enough. I can get through it,’ he said. ‘But I had never experienced a mental space like it. It was the lowest I had ever been.’
By the time he entered training camps for Parker and Zhang, the weight was crushing. ‘I was still thinking about my problems outside the ring while I’m in camp,’ he said. ‘I spent the majority of camp trying to get my mind right. I kept telling myself it’s okay, but it wasn’t okay. I was just trying to convince myself and trick myself into thinking I would make it through the fights.
‘I had all these people relying on me to go in there, fight and perform. I couldn’t let them down so I compromised my mental health. I didn’t want to be there and I was already thinking about after the fights before they even took place.’
Critics questioned his legs, his reflexes, his age. Wilder says they were looking in the wrong place. ‘It wasn’t physical,’ he said. ‘When I got in the ring and the bell say ding it was just about survival. It was like a hypnosis thing. Everything that I put together in camp went out the f***ing window.’
Eventually, he reached a point he had never reached before: acceptance that he could not fix this alone. ‘I decided to get the help of two therapists,’ Wilder said. ‘And a sports psychologist. I had a lot of talks. A lot of things they put in perspective for me. Looking at situations, but looking at them in a different way.’
One lesson became central. ‘They talk about putting things on the shelf. They also explained I should be putting energy into things you can’t control. If you can’t control it, put it on the shelf. And when you put things on the shelf, it gets dust on it. You start to forget things. That’s been a healing mechanism for me.’
The work also forced Wilder to confront trauma long predating his boxing career. ‘When you go through childhood, PTSD, depending on the environment or situations you went through, as adults we still deal with that. And when you get in certain situations, it can hit you all over again.’
Being falsely accused, he says, is one of his deepest triggers. ‘That really hits me. I used to get accused of things I didn’t do, even as a child. Even as an adult. Don’t accuse me of something that I didn’t do. I’m a man. If I do something, I’ll do the time for the crime. But don’t put nothing on me that I didn’t do.’
Now 38, Wilder says time and perspective have reshaped him. ‘Age is a beautiful thing,’ he said. ‘You get wiser. The things that used to bother you, they don’t no more. Somebody come up acting crazy, you wasting your energy. I’m having fun. We laughing. We in good spirits.
‘There’s a lot of miserable people. Low-vibrational people. They want you to come down there with them. I’m not the one that’s gonna give you that. I love the space that I’m in. I’ve been through hell and back. And I ain’t going back there no more. I’m not letting nobody get me to that point again.’
And now, he says, the Bronze Bomber is ready to remind the world why he was one of the most feared heavyweights of his era and is adamant he can do so against Anthony Joshua.
‘I mean we still here. I’m not retired, he’s not retired. We’re still in the same business. It’s still one of the biggest fights in the world. People are still heavily invested in that fight with me and Joshua. It’s going to happen. Like I said, I am here, I’ve always been here and I’ve always wanted that fight.
‘I want to know who the best is and we are going to find out. I’ve been talking to some people over in Africa, I am not going to name them, but they know Joshua too and we’ve been discussing bringing that fight to Africa. I would love to do it. Look, that fight is definitely going to happen. We just need to wait and see where.’
He is also in talks with Oleksandr Usyk, adding another potential chapter to a storied career. But one thing is clear: Wilder believes the mental battle that nearly broke him is finally over, and he is back to his ruthless self – the one who wants to inflict that power on Anthony Joshua when the moment is right.
New footage of Anthony Joshua in training for this month’s fight against Jake Paul has become a big talking point online, with fans commenting on his lean physique.
For the first time in his career, Joshua has a strict contracted weight limit ahead of a professional bout.
The two-time heavyweight world champion, who weighed just over 252lbs in his last bout against Daniel Dubois last year, cannot weigh more than 245lbs for the eight-round contest on December 19.
It must be noted that there is no restriction on how much weight Joshua can add on after the official weigh-in.
Earlier this month, AJ responded to concerns with an update regarding his weight on social media. “They must have forgot,” he said alongside a video of himself stepping on the scales.
“I’m used to dealing with big weights & scales. 243.8lbs.”
With just over a week until fight night, a training clip of Joshua has emerged, where he can be seen practising his coordination and reflexes by punching a tennis ball attached to a cap.
Here’s how fans on social media have reacted to the video.
One said: “Nah wait Jake actually might cook him he looks so skinny,” and a second commented: “Damn he looks tiny here.”
A third wrote: “Damn he looks tiny here,” and a fourth said: “WTF he looks so skinny”
A fifth added: “Probably the slimmest i’ve seen him, he doesn’t need to be heavy v Jake Paul tbh.”
Ahead of the contest in Miami, promoter Eddie Hearn has given an insight into Joshua’s condition.
“He’s really dialled in as if he was fighting an elite heavyweight,” Hearn told talkSPORT. “The one thing he always does is take everything seriously and he is doing so for this, he’s in tremendous shape.
“The difference is in this fight is he has to make a specific weight which is a lot lighter than he would be going into this fight. But he’s on track and is in Miami with not long to go until the fight.
“I can’t believe what’s about to happen, to be honest.”
He added: “Yeah, he’s ready to go and do a job on him, and I just can’t believe we’ve signed the contract to fight him.”
