We could not have said it better ourselves – ‘Paul ran, but he could not hide’ – after Friday night’s dreadful Netflix ‘blockbuster in Miami, Florida.
Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul each earned a reported purse of more than £50million for six rounds of ‘boxing’ which brought boos galore from a frustrated crowd inside the Kaseya Center.
Eventually two-time world heavyweight champion AJ would prevail via a sixth-round knockout as his YouTuber opponent began to tire after running for a solid four rounds.
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The first half of this scheduled eight-round was absolutely terrible with Jake on his bike for almost the entirety, and either falling to the canvas or rugby-tackling Joshua when the need arose.
It was 12 minutes of almost total futility, and the reveal of the post-fight punch stats from Compubox showed just how bad things were.
Joshua vs Jake – Compubox stats
During those four rounds Paul landed just 11 punches – total – while Joshua managed to hit home with only 17. It was a grim watch for the fans in Miami and watching around the world on Netflix. But it was mission accomplished for Jake, who made it out of the first round and then deep into the fight. More than many experts believed would happen.
Joshua did up his output considerably in Rounds 5 and 6, having Paul on the canvas multiple times before finally applying the coup de grace with a thumping right hand to the jaw. He landed 31 times in those two sessions, 22 of those punches being power shots.
In total Joshua landed 48 punches out of 146 thrown in the fight as a whole, while Jake was able to muster a miserable 16 from just 56 thrown in the six rounds.
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The Compubox commentary summed up the flow of the fight perfectly, claiming: “For four rounds, Jake Paul successfully executed his strategy of fleeing around the ring to minimize Anthony Joshua’s opportunities to land punches. During that stretch, Joshua landed 17 punches, and Paul landed 11.
“Alas, Paul ran, but he could not hide from Joshua, who found his offensive footing in the fifth round to the tune of 14 power punches landed resulting in two knockdowns.”
“Joshua closed the show in the sixth round, landing 8 of 13 (62%) of his power shots, and sending Paul to the canvas twice. Paul
didn’t beat the count after the second knockdown.”
