Jake Paul vs Anthony Joshua falls well short of Mike Tyson record
Anthony Joshua's KO of Jake Paul was watched by 33million people last week - well short of the 108million who tuned in to watch Paul beat Mike Tyson last year.
Joshua was made to work far harder than he would have liked to extinguish the challenge of a brave, but extremely limited, opponent, knocking Paul down twice in the fifth round before knocking him out in the sixth.
The fight will rank third in the list of most-streamed bouts behind Paul vs Tyson and Terence Crawford's win over Canelo Alvarez in September which drew 41million viewers. Katie Taylor's trilogy fight with Amanda Serrano earlier this year attracted six million viewers.
• Jake Paul takes legal action immediately after Anthony Joshua KO
• Jake Paul suspended INDEFINITELY after brutal Anthony Joshua KO
After knocking out Paul in his first fight since we was stopped by Daniel Dubois 15 months ago, Joshua said: “It wasn’t the best performance. We have to give Jake his respect for trying and trying and trying, but he came up against a real fighter tonight that’s had a 15-month layoff, who shook off the cobwebs.
“I can’t wait to roll into 2026. If Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is, and he wants to put down his Twitter fingers and put on some gloves and come and fight one of the realest fighters out there, that will take on any challenge, step in the ring with me next if you’re a real bad boy.
Asked whether his 15-month spell out of the ring since losing to Daniel Dubois had played a part in taking so long to see off an opponent whose previous career had predominantly come against former UFC stars or faded boxing greats, Joshua insisted he had deliberately toyed with Paul.
“I need to give this guy a systematic breakdown,” he added. “I said I’m going to take his soul, I said I’m going to see it leaving his body round after round.
“I refuse to get hurt, I refuse to acknowledge getting hurt. As soon as he hit me, I stood there and I tried to hit him back. At the end of the day there’s going to be one winner and it’s me tonight.” Paul barely landed a shot but showed commendable heart to last as long as he did once Joshua’s barrage began.
Afterwards the 28-year-old revealed that he thought he had broken his jaw as he spat out a mouthful of blood during a post-fight interview, confirming it in an Instagram post on Saturday, saying: “Double broken jaw. Give me Canelo in 10 days.” “I’m feeling good, that was fun,” he told Netflix after the fight. “I love this sport. I gave it my all… I had a blast.
“Anthony’s a great fighter, I got my ass beat but that’s what this sport’s about. “I think my jaw is broke by the way… it’s definitely broke.