Anthony Joshua marked his long-awaited return to the ring with a victory over Jake Paul on Friday night.
The two-time unified world heavyweight champion stopped ‘The Problem Child’ in the sixth round of their controversial showdown at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Paul hit the canvas twice in the fifth round before he found himself on the receiving end of a thunderous right hand in the sixth which left him with a broken jaw in two places.
Despite it being his first ring appearance in just over one year, Joshua has received some criticism for not closing the show earlier after it had been expected that the 36-year-old would have stopped Paul in the early stages of the bout.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Joshua claimed that he actually deserves to be criticised for his performance against the controversial American in a surprising admission.
“I deserve it, because like we’re elite fighters. Like so I put myself in the shoes of a coach. If I was coaching Anthony Joshua and he went six rounds with Jake Paul, I would get him back in the gym tomorrow, give him a bit of a beating and we’re getting straight back to work because I’ll be like ‘How you letting this kid take you six rounds, are you crazy?’ but I can’t go back in time.”
Joshua has once again expressed an interest in facing long-term domestic rival Tyson Fury next, with reports suggesting that the British duo could finally be in line to lock horns in 2026.
