While the boxing world is still reeling from the controversial Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight, one promoter firmly believes that there was no ‘fixing’ in the bout.
British promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t agree with the theory that there was something nefarious behind the fight which went six-rounds before a knockout.
Hearn, who was promoting Joshua in the fight, appeared on The Ariel Helwani Show to confirm that there was no such agreement on a certain number of rounds, no predetermined outcome and no script.
‘Absolutely no way ever. If you look at a couple of the right hands AJ missed with in the first couple of rounds, they would have done the same job on Jake’s jaw if they would have landed,’ Hearn said.
‘And Jake did very well to avoid them, so I always said going into the fight, AJ’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna come out like a train – just start swinging away. He’s gonna take his time and that’s what he did.’
Joshua ended up finishing the job with a knockout punch which broke Paul’s jaw in two places and led to multiple lost teeth.
Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is adamant the Jake Paul-Anthony Joshua fight wasn’t ‘fixed’
Hearn said the bout went longer than Joshua planned before his sixth-round knockout
Paul ended up breaking his jaw in two places, which required him to undergo surgery
Hearn did admit that Joshua was expecting the fight ending sooner than it did.
‘The fight definitely went a few more rounds than anticipated from Anthony. But it’s like even now, ‘yea it was definitely fixed.’ Some guy commented today on one of my posts it was definitely fixed. You do know that he’s broken his jaw in two places?’ Hearn said.
‘He may never be able to fight again. People aren’t really talking about this. People just think, ‘oh you just get you jaw wired, bolted together by a couple screws and on you go.’ There have been many fighters that have had their jaws broken that have never boxed again.
‘We’re not actors here, you know? It was 100% real. There was never any strategy, any deal, any script. AJ wanted to land clean as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the only time he landed really clean was in the sixth round. And unfortunately that happened to Jake.
‘We didn’t want that to happen to Jake, ultimately. We wanted to win and get it over with. But that’s the dangers that he took and the risk that he was in the fight. And we hope he can heal up.’
From the hospital bed, Paul almost instantly showed his desire to fight again, posting an X-Ray of the breaks in his jaw and saying, ‘Give me Canelo [Alvarez] in 10 days.’
After the procedure to fix his mouth was completed, Paul tweeted, ‘Just got out of surgery. Everything went smooth. Thanks for all the love. Lots of pain and stiffness. Gotta eat liquids for 7 days.’
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Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua ‘fix’ claims shot down once and for all by Eddie Hearn