Tony Bellew has his final say on Anthony Joshua’s performance against Jake Paul

Former world cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew has shared his thoughts on Anthony Joshua and Jake Paul’s heavyweight contest last Friday.

The pair engaged in a largely uneventful encounter at the Kaseya Center, Miami, with Joshua sending a fight-ending right hand crashing into his opponent’s jaw.

Prior to that, Paul had already tasted the canvas multiple times, repeatedly throwing himself down in a bid to avoid any sustained attacks before legitimate knockdowns.

During the time spent on his feet, meanwhile, the internet star would focus almost entirely on his lateral movement, only producing the odd overhand right in an attempt to land just one meaningful shot.

He did, to his credit, have crumbs of success with that particular punch, and even made Joshua miss on several occasions, yet there was always a sense that he would eventually get stopped.

Sure enough, that moment arrived in the sixth round, when ‘AJ’ scored his fourth official knockdown and broke a fatigued Paul’s jaw in two places.

Since then, Paul has undergone a successful surgical procedure, while also being reduced to drinking liquid food for the next few days.

The outcome of their vastly lopsided matchup, however, could have been far worse, especially when considering the terrific difference in size and experience. Paul has insisted that he wishes to remain in this sport, promising to eventually win a world title at his more natural weight of 200lbs.

As for Bellew, who posted his thoughts on X shortly after their fight, the fact that the 28-year-old did not get carried out on a stretcher is, for him, a fairly positive outcome.

“The most important thing [in my opinion] is [Joshua] 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 [did] what he set out to do which is stop Jake Paul! Boxing is and always will be the ultimate 1v1 sport!”

Bellew had previously said that ‘AJ’ could end the contest anytime he liked, however it didn’t quite play out that way.