Boxing

Anthony Joshua broke Jake Paul’s jaw in two places. It could have been a lot worse.

Published

11 months ago

December 20, 2025

Anthony Joshua Broke Jake Paul’s Jaw In Two Places. Things Could Have Been Much Worse.

Author: Sean Crose

You can’t please boxing fans. While it’s true that Friday’s fight between former world champion Anthony Joshua and the infamous Jake Paul ended in an explosive knockout, fans of the sweet science are unhappy. While it’s true that the fight itself was ridiculous and shouldn’t have happened at all (besides the fact that it undoubtedly guaranteed a lot of money), everything went exactly as expected. Scratch it. Everything probably went much better than expected. Paul left the ring with his jaw broken in two places. Considering what may have happened to this brash teenage warrior, he might want to count his blessings.

Paul started avoiding Joshua from the first bell. Netflix’s call-to-action broadcast team – made up of top-notch professionals – knew their job was to show that Joshua, a former world champion, was unable to get his man. But you didn’t have to look into the future to realize where things were heading. Although Joshua could not successfully land on Paul, Paul could not successfully land on Joshua. Moreover, as the fight went on, Joshua put more and more pressure on Paul. This sort of thing tends to drain a fighter – and of course Paul eventually ran out of energy. Then it was completely in line with the regulations.

So why are people incensed? Paul came with a hit and run plan that didn’t work. He then took the beating without excuses and without giving up. To stop him, he literally had to be knocked out by the mighty Joshua, one of the toughest boxers in all of boxing. As for Joshua, he was fighting a man whose main goal was to avoid him. It’s a challenge to say the least. The fact that he ended up catching and beating Paul indicates that Joshua is a fighter who knows what he’s doing, who has enough confidence and patience to wait before lowering the symbolic boom.

It’s embarrassing to say, but Joshua-Paul was never intended to be Hagler-Hearns. It was exactly what it was supposed to be – a spectacle. The fact that Paul was desperately avoiding the man who had broken his jaw in two places meant that Joshua would be unable to stop his opponent within a round or two. But Joshua still pulled through – as did Paul, who kept fighting even though it was obvious to everyone that he was taking a terrible beating. If you want a mainstream fight between two high-level professionals, you might get one next year if Joshua and Tyson Fury finally manage to fight it. If not, there will still be plenty of top-flight matches in the coming weeks and months. Just don’t expect a Joshua-Paul rematch. The circus left town last night when the referee counted out Paul in the 6th round.

Boxing

Robert Garcia Analyzes Tim Tszyus Odds Against Erislandy Lara | Boxing News

Published

3 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Robert Garcia Analyzes Tim Tszyu's Odds Against Erislandy Lara | Boxing News"

Tim Tszyu seeks to become Australia’s third multi-divisional boxing world champion when he competes for Erislandy Lara’s WBA middleweight title next month, and ahead of the action, trainer Robert Garcia has offered his thoughts on the fight.

Tszyu lost his WBO super-welterweight title in a defeat to Sebastian Fundora back in 2024 and twice failed to reclaim 154lb honours, both against Bakhram Murtazaliev and in a rematch with Fundora.

Since then, the Aussie has stepped up to middleweight and scored a career-best win over Errol Spence Jr earlier this yearand now, the 32-year-old could join lead trainer Jeff Fenech and Liam Paro as his nation’s third two-weight world champion, if he can trump 43-year-old.

Speaking with ProBox TVRobert Garcia, who trains a potential future Tszyu opponent in Vergil Ortiz, admitted that he is leaning towards the home fighter, but noted that Lara will not be phased by competing in the challenger’s backyard.

“We can probably lean towards Tim Tsyzu because he is fighting at home, in front of his hometown, but Lara is not the fighter that brings in a lot of fans following him.

“He doesn’t have a following, he is not one that is going to sell out arenas, so even if it is in the United States, it is likely that most of the people are going to be [there] for Tim Tszyu because Australians do travel and Tim Tszyu has a lot of fans.

“For Lara, going to Australia is like going to Las Vegas or going to New York because he never has that following anyways. Anywhere he goes, he is going to be against the crowd. So, I think for him it is going to be one of those performances where it doesn’t make a difference if he is going to Tim Tsyzu’s hometown.”

Tszyu-Lara takes place at the Cbus Super Stadium in Queensland, Australia on Sunday 13 December.

Boxing

Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight

Published

4 hours ago

November 7, 2026

The Punch Junkie™ News

"Malik Scott Predicts Knockout Victory for Jai Opetaia in Upcoming Fight"

Deontay Wilder’s former head coach Malik Scott has delivered a knockout prediction for the American’s upcoming showdown with Jai Opetaia.

The pair will square off at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, with Opetaia making his heavyweight debut on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs Anthony Joshua.

Despite him being the naturally smaller man, many are favouring the Australian – a former two-time world cruiserweight champion – to defeat his 10-years-older opponent.

It is, after all, generally accepted that Wilder has declined significantly since his trilogy bout with Furywho survived two knockdowns and scored an 11th-round knockout in their 2021 encounter.

Back then, Wilder had just joined forces with Scott, his former opponent, and the pair maintained their fighter-trainer relationship through subsequent defeats against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.

With Wilder now operating under different coaches, though, Scott has shared a balanced view of the Opetaia fight with Seconds Out.

“The fight’s got dynamite written all over it. Jai Opetaia is very dangerous, but he’s a smaller man that’s been hurt by smaller men than Deontay, slower men than Deontay.

“I’ve never seen Opetaia get hit by nobody like Deontay; I’ve seen Deontay get hit by bigger punchers than Opetaia. [But] one thing we can expect in this fight is a knockout.

“The name of the fight is ‘bad intentions’ – at least that’s what I’m calling it, because that’s what they share in common. What they share in common is mentality – they both are trying to hurt you.”

While he stopped short of predicting a winner, it is perhaps telling that Scott, despite his relationship with Wilder, has not explicitly favoured him to win by knockout.