Watch Jake Paul get knocked out by Anthony Joshua
It may have taken Anthony Joshua longer than he would have liked, but he finally landed the kill shot and finished off Jake Paul.
Netflix and MVP offerings
The knockout will be the highlight of the match.
But another memorable moment from Anthony Joshua’s knockout win over Jake Paul on Dec. 19 at Miami’s Caseya Center was that Paul fell to the canvas multiple times, eliciting boos from the crowd.
In what appeared to be a deliberate tactic, an exhausted-looking Paul fell to the mat six times during the heavyweight bout, which ended in the sixth round. Some comments online accused Paul of attempting an MMA-style “takedown,” at one point causing Joshua to fall onto Paul.
But none of that prevented Joshua from knocking Paul out in the sixth round or breaking Paul’s jaw in two places. However, it sparked a debate and debate ensued as to whether the fall was an ugly tactic that warranted a point deduction from Paul.
After Paul suffered his fifth fall in the fifth round, referee Chris Young brought the fighters together.
“Listen, we need to stop using these tactics, okay?” Young said, looking at Paul. But is it okay to stay within the rules? ”
Young finished the match without a point penalty, as he did after Paul fell again in the sixth round.
“Their fight went their way. It was an ugly fight, a sloppy fight,” Young told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday, Dec. 24.
Young said he needs permission from the Florida State Athletic Commission to talk further about the fight.
Remarks from famous referees
Robert Byrd and Kenny Bayless are former judges who are inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. They expressed sympathy for Young, a 44-year-old referee from Florida who was officiating the high-profile boxing match that was live-streamed by Netflix.
“I think he did his best,” Byrd said, “Kenny or I probably would have called time at some point and said, ‘Look, whatever it is you’re doing here, you’ve got to quit.’ It’s got to stop, well. And if it didn’t stop, it probably would have been deducted for … unsportsmanlike conduct.”
Bayless said there was nothing wrong with Young’s conduct.
“I probably would have done basically the same thing, because usually when a fighter comes forward and goes down like that, their legs are starting to get weak,” he said, “and for me, it was Jake’s movement so much trying to get away from Joshua that his legs got weak…”
“There’s not much the referee can do in that situation other than give you a light warning and tell you to be careful what you’re doing.”
Jack Reese, a renowned referee who retired in 2024, defended Young.
“He was trying to survive,” Reese said of Paul. you know what i mean? Jake was trying to survive even though he was hurt. And when fighters are trying to survive, trying to fight, they will do anything to survive. Why punish him for that? ”
“This is not a wrestling match.”
Jake Paul’s brother Logan brought up his frequent falls this week when he invited his mother Pam Stepnick on his podcast.
It turns out that Jake Paul’s mother was against the move.
“I yelled, ‘Stop, this is not a wrestling match,'” Stepnick said, noting that was before he heard any details.
Logan Paul was furious at his brother’s accusation that he was attempting a takedown. Logan Paul said of the waterfall, “It’s a really bad strategy visually, but it saves energy…” and said he asked Jake Paul about it while watching him practice for a match.
Cassius Chaney, one of Paul’s sparring partners during training camp, confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that the fall was something Paul was working on leading up to the fight.
“They wanted (Paul) to go with the flow of the big man’s weight. They didn’t want him to fight the push down (from Joshua) because he would tire faster,” Cheney said of Joshua.
And ultimately, this tactic didn’t spare Jake Paul a shot last fall following the knockout punch.
