Anthony Joshua defeats Jake Paul by knockout in 6th round

Anthony Joshua marked his return to professional boxing with a victory over Jake Paul live on Netflix.

The 36-year-old was the overwhelming favourite for the money-spinning bout, and anything other than a knockout from the Olympic gold medallist would have represented perhaps the biggest upset in boxing history.

Although Paul has won 12 of his 13 professional fights, seven through knockout, they have mainly been against boxing has-beens or MMA fighters, with his only fight against an established professional boxer coming against Tommy Fury, which represents his only defeat.

Since Joshua is streets ahead of the former Love Island contestant, there was perhaps always going to be one winner at the Kaseya Center in Miami, and that was certainly the opinion of boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, who called Paul 'petrified' and 'deluded'.

He added: "We took a fight that we believe will be very straightforward, will give AJ a huge profile in America and one of his career-high paydays.

We have a clear strategy in mind - to knock Jake out asap. Then we go into normal service being resumed in 2026.

"AJ will fight against a world-class opponent in February and - if all goes well - he will then fight Tyson Fury.

"So there's a method to this madness and taking this fight does not affect AJ's legacy. But losing to Jake or it even going the distance would.

"It would be an absolute disaster and awfully embarrassing."

The 36-year-old, who said before the fight that there was 'zero chance' it would go the distance, will be glad that he avoided some embarrassment after knocking out his opponent, but he would've preferred it to last nowhere near as long.

He was continually frustrated by his opponent, before finally knocking him out in the sixth round.

Paul was certainly far more confident in his own ability than the rest of the boxing world, with several former pros and experts suggesting that the only good scenario for the former Disney star was ensuring that he wasn't badly hurt.

After the fight was confirmed by Netflix, he wrote: "This isn’t an AI simulation. This is Judgment Day.

“A professional heavyweight fight against an elite world champion in his prime. When I beat Anthony Joshua, every doubt disappears, and no one can deny me the opportunity to fight for a world title.

"To all my haters, this is what you wanted. To the people of the United Kingdom, I am sorry. On Friday, December 19, under the lights in Miami, live globally only on Netflix, the torch gets passed and Britain’s Goliath gets put to sleep. "I KNOWWWW YOU GOT EM PICKED HAHAHHA."

While some were concerned that Joshua wouldn't go full throttle, particularly in his first fight in over a year since losing his heavyweight title to Daniel Dubois back in September 2024, but he promised that he would show his far more inexperienced opponent 'no mercy'.

And the Watford-born world champion did exactly that on Friday night in Miami, eventually taking down his free-falling foe after several rounds of frustration.