Jake Paul says he made ‘big mistake’ for Anthony Joshua fight that had impact on result
Jake Paul has now revealed the 'big mistake' that he says cost him in his knockout defeat against Anthony Joshua.
The 28-year-old faced the former world heavyweight champ in a money-spinning bout that was streamed live on Netflix on Friday (19 December), with many experts fearing for his safety given the respective reputations and experience of the two boxers.
Paul might have only previously lost one fight in his short boxing career, but that came against Tommy Fury, and it was widely expected that AJ would triumph by a quick knockout.
Although the US influencer was able to hold on for six rounds, he eventually succumbed to some powerful right hooks from his Olympic gold medallist opponent, one of which managed to break his jaw in two places, something Eddie Hearn suspects might lead to him never fighting again.
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While most sensible sporting fans might suggest that it was Paul's lack of experience compared to Joshua that meant he was never going to win the fight, he's now claimed that it was something else that cost him what would have undoubtedly been one of the biggest upsets in sporting history.
Fresh after drinking an expensive hot dog through a straw, thanks to his significant jaw injury, Paul appeared on his brother Logan's podcast to discuss his training and last week's fight.
He suggested that it was his cardio that might have let him down rather than his strength training.
Speaking on Impaulsive, Paul said: "I wish I had more than three weeks.
"I think, to prepare to maybe have like put on some more muscle to be able to like sit there and hit him and then I should have gone to altitude to train. That was my biggest mistake."
Co-host Mike Majlak then asked: "Do you feel good about your camp?"
Paul replied: "I felt good about it. Yeah. But I mean, I just needed to have that extra level of cardio for this and that would that only can come from going to altitude."
Of course, boxers need to be equally adept at skipping rope as they do at throwing punches, and despite Joshua's significantly larger strength and frame, Paul was able to effectively evade him thanks to some clinching and dodging techniques in the first five rounds.
Only when he tired in the sixth round, after a pretty severe warning from the referee, did Paul finally start to suffer at the hands of his opponent, something which very few humans on the planet would have been able to stand up to.
Despite him taking some heavy punches and suffering a painful defeat at the hands of the 36-year-old, some folks on the internet were quick to voice conspiracy theories about the fight, which has landed both fighters a staggering amount of money.
After claims that the result had been premeditated went viral, Paul's team confirmed that a lawsuit would be launched against those who had made some potentially defamatory statements.
Nakisa Bidarian, co-founder of Paul's Most Valuable Promotions, told Ariel Helwani: "Our lawyers are actively going after a number of people. One who claims to be a lawyer himself online.
"I don't remember the name or the handle, but it was something that had like 200,000 likes. And basically, this post said there was an agreement for AJ not to knock out Jake, but AJ disregarded the agreement and decided to not get his payday, but knock out Jake Paul.
"It's just beyond mind-blowing that people would think that Anthony Joshua was on record saying that if he didn't finish him in the first round, that would be disappointing, that it would be a failure.
"The narrative changed as we got closer to fight night and obviously post-fight, and I understand why, but they were pretty adamant it would take max two rounds to knock out Jake Paul."
Topics: Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua, Boxing, Netflix
James Moorhouse