Jake Paul has shared his thoughts on what he considers his ‘biggest mistake’ leading up to his tough defeat against Anthony Joshua.
The transition from YouTuber to boxer saw Paul knocked out in the sixth round of their much-anticipated match at the Kaseya Center in Miami on December 19. He now admits that he underestimated the level of preparation required to face the former heavyweight champion.
The fight resulted in the 28-year-old sustaining a broken jaw in two places. Despite the painful outcome, Paul has been reflecting on the event and identifying where he went wrong.
During an appearance on his brother Logan Paul’s Impaulsive podcast, ‘The Problem Child’ recounted the moment he began to lose control of the fight.
“It was just mental. It was just like him imposing his will on me, and being massive, and the big shots landing,” he explained. “Then yeah, it pretty much all goes downhill from there.”
However, Paul acknowledged that the true problem began well before the night of the fight.
He continued: “But I wish I had more than three weeks, I think, to prepare [I could have] 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.”
Although he felt confident at the time, Paul admitted that his training camp was not ideal.
“I felt good about it, yeah. But I mean, I just needed to have that extra level of cardio for this and that only can come from going to altitude,” he explained.
He further stated: “No, I mean just because like I was weighing like 200 pounds when we confirmed the fight and then I had to gain more weight. But I mean, yeah, man, it’s a great experience overall to be in there with someone who’s that good – I learned a lot and I see where I could have done better, so I’m a little disappointed, but I also know how good he is.”
Despite being knocked down several times before the fight was stopped, Paul insists there were moments where he had an advantage.
“But I had him wobbled at one point. I had him wobbled, but he kept his hands up better this fight,” he added.
After the bout, Paul was seen spitting blood and later confirmed the severity of his injuries.
“Anthony’s a great fighter, I got my ass beat, but that’s what this sport’s about,” he said at the time. “I think my jaw is broken by the way.”
Joshua, on the other hand, commended Paul’s resilience, saying: “He got up time and time again. It takes a real man to do that.”