Anthony Joshua was just following orders.
The English Olympic-gold-medal boxer said recently on the “Mr. Verzace Podcast” that he had received a “strict message” to get Jake Paul out of the sport.
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“There was a strict message that was given and a task that was laid upon me, and that was to get rid of Jake Paul, remove him from our beloved sport, which is boxing,” Joshua said on the podcast with a smile.
“Whether that took me one round, whether that took me six rounds, I believe the job was well and truly done. I definitely delivered.”
The Olympic heavyweight defeated Paul by knockout in the sixth round in a December mismatch, with Paul, normally a cruiserweight, fighting Joshua, the heavyweight champion.
Paul was smiling and sticking his tongue out in the ring, but wasn’t laughing much afterward, as he suffered a broken jaw as a direct result from Joshua’s power punches.
Paul told The Post in an interview last month that he had to get jaw surgery, and his return to boxing is on hold because of the injury.
It is possible that Paul does not fight at all in 2026 because of his fractured jaw, but he still cleared a massive payday for himself and his combat sports promotion MVP.
MVP has begun its foray into MMA, with a debut card three weeks ago featuring Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano.
So perhaps Joshua didn’t end Paul’s combat sports career, but he did push him out of boxing at least for now.
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It is unclear who Joshua is referring to when he says he was “given” orders to end Paul’s boxing career, though he could have been referring to the hardcore boxing fan community as a whole.
Joshua may have just added another casualty as he already appears to have ended former MMA champion Francis Ngannou’s boxing career last year with a brutal first-round knockout.
This story originally appeared on The New York Post and has been republished with permission