Johnny Nelson has been looking back over Anthony Joshua‘s victory over Jake Paul.
This controversial fight got the whole boxing world talking given what a mismatch it seemed.
In one corner was former two time unified world champion Joshua, and in the other a relative novice in Paul, who had never faced anyone of the size and experience of Joshua.
After staying out of the way for the first few rounds of the contest, Paul was eventually caught by Joshua with a huge right hand that broke his jaw in multiple places and ended the fight in the sixth round.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Nelson admitted it was a reality check for Paul.
“I think he realised the task in hand when he stood there in the 22-foot ring. He sees an Adonis of a fighter, former world champion Anthony Joshua, in the other corner and that’s when reality hit fiction.
“Everything he had in his head, everything he thought that he could possibly do had disappeared, slipped out of the ring with the cornermen and he thought ‘wow, this is for real’.
“Even a little jab that just gently missed him, you could see him thinking ‘what is this about?’ So it was a case of survival and I didn’t want Joshua to knock him out, if I’m honest with you. I thought ‘you’ve got to make this kid have a reality check’ and that’s what he actually did.”
Nelson still had plenty of praise for Paul and what he has achieved in the sport.
“Jake Paul has done a brilliant job of promoting himself, promoting this fight, evoking human emotion and I think he’ll be a great promoter down the line. You had all these amazing fights on the undercard, all the female fighters getting their chance to shine, and I thought ‘you know what, you’re doing your job, you’ve got everyone talking about you.”
Paul is now recovering from his broken jaw so will be sidelined for sometime.
Joshua meanwhile, goes into 2026 revitalised and immediately called out Tyson Fury after stopping Paul, with many fans hopeful that fight can be made next year.
