All predictably came out on his bicycle, moving left and right but still landing the only palpable punch of the first round. It didn’t take long for fans to start becoming vocal with their displeasure at the pattern that was emerging: Paul on the move, Joshua chasing and Paul clinching.
The best punches for Joshua were actually when Paul clinched, Joshua would angrily throw to the body.
Throughout the first four rounds, Paul was on the canvas. Six times- there was a tackle, a throw down, a fall to the canvas after missing a wild punch, another tackle in which Joshua’s knee went right into Paul’s groin, a slip and a kneel down.
Paul had his best moments in the fourth when he actually decided to go toe to toe, driving the crowd crazy. The bottom started to fall out for Paul in the 5th. During some of his excessive movement, he seemed to tweak an ankle or a knee as he visibly winced in pain. Paul was now a sitting. Duck and Joshua dropped him once with body shots and once with head shots.
He was able to survive the round but was exhausted. The sixth round saw Joshua go for the finish and put Paul down twice more, with more solid shots, the second time, a beautiful straight right to Paul’s jaw. Paul could not not beat referee Christopher Young’s count. The time was 1:31 of the 6th. Joshua improves to 29-4, 26 KOs. Paul drops to 12-2, 7 KOs.
Joshua congratulated Paul for getting up time and time again and for making an effort. He called Tyson Fury out for 2026.
For his part, Paul said that he had fun despite feeling that he had a broken jaw as he spit a mouth full of blood out in front of the camera! He vowed to keep going in boxing and expressed his desire to fight someone some his own weight and go for the cruiserweight title.
