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Topics: Tony Bellew, Boxing, Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua, Boxing News
John McDougall
Topics: Tony Bellew, Boxing, Jake Paul, Anthony Joshua, Boxing News
Retired boxer Tony Bellew has had his say on YouTuber Jake Paul after his loss at the hands of Anthony Joshua.
Paul took on AJ at the Kaseya Center in Florida in one of, if not the, biggest fight of his fledgling professional boxing career since it began back in 2020.
But the 28-year-old experienced the second loss of his career - since losing to Tommy Fury in February 2023 - with a knockout in the sixth round, with the bout having been scheduled to last eight.
Paul's record now stands at 12 wins from 14 fights, though he is poised to spend some time away from boxing to heal the broken jaw he suffered against Joshua.
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Paul said: "I'm feeling good, that was fun, I love this sport. I gave it my all, it's crazy. I had a blast, thank you to all the fans. Anthony Joshua is a great fighter, I got beat but that's what this sport is about. I will come back and keep on winning.
"I'm going to take a little break. I've been going hard for six years. I'll take some time off. This is amazing."
Joshua's professional boxing record - which began in 2013 following his gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics - is now targeting a long-awaited fight against fellow heavyweight Tyson Fury, which has been on the cards for several years.
Joshua spoke warmly about Paul and him getting up repeatedly despite being floored by him several times, but believes his quality came through in the end.
Joshua said: "Jake Paul has done really well tonight, I want to give him the props. He got up time and time again. It was difficult in there for him, but he kept trying to find a way.
"It takes a real man to do that. You have to give Jake credit for trying, but he came up against a real fighter tonight."
Bellew hung up his gloves in 2018 with a professional record which stands at 30 wins from 34 fights, with one draw and only three defeats and fought at light-heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight levels, ending his career with a lost against Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in November 2018, before which he had secured back-to-back victories over David Haye.
He has taken to social media to have his say on the fight and was pleased that Paul left the ring without being too badly hurt in the long-term, which he feels was the 'most important thing'. Bellew gave respect to Paul for getting into the ring with Joshua, as he labelled boxing as the 'ultimate 1v1 sport'.
He wrote: "The most important thing imo is he didn’t leave him permanently hurt! I believe everyone won last night.. Fair play to Jake Paul, He tried everything he could to survive! AJ does what he set out to do which is stop Jake Paul! Boxing is and always will be the ultimate 1v1 sport!"