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Joshua controlled the action from the opening bell. Paul relied on movement, clinching and single jabs to slow the pace and avoid sustained exchanges. He tied Joshua up repeatedly and went to the canvas on several occasions without being knocked down, drawing warnings from the referee and boos from the crowd.
Joshua pressed forward but landed cleanly only in spurts early. He won the opening rounds on activity and ring control as Paul focused on survival.
The pace shifted midway through the fight. Joshua began finding his range with body shots and short uppercuts. Paul remained upright through the middle rounds and returned to his corner after each round. At one point, he gestured toward Joshua before the bell.
In the fifth and sixth rounds, Joshua knocked Paul down multiple times along the ropes. He followed with sustained punches before the referee stopped the fight in round six. Paul was dropped again in the sixth round, prompting the referee to stop the contest as Joshua continued to land unanswered punches.
The stoppage came without an immediate announcement of the official time. Reports varied on the total number of knockdowns.
Joshua improved to 29-4 with 26 knockouts. The former two-time unified heavyweight champion rebounded from his recent loss to Daniel Dubois.
Paul fell to 12-2 in his professional career. It was his toughest test to date and his first bout against a former heavyweight world champion.
The fight was streamed live on Netflix and took place at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
Alycia Baumgardner held onto her IBF and WBO super featherweight titles with a 12-round unanimous decision against a gunshy Leila Beaudoin in the chief support bout. The scores were 117-110, 117-110, and 118-109. Baumgardner dropped Beaudoin in round seven. There weren’t many fireworks between these two boxers to create excitement from the fans.
Anderson Silva made short work of Tyrone Woodley, knocking him out in the second round of a scheduled six-round cruiserweight contender. The 50-year-old former UFC champion Silva dropped the 43-year-old Woodley with a big shot in the second.
Anderson connected with a right uppercut followed by a short right to the jaw to send Woodley down. After he got back up, referee Samuel Burgos waved it off. The time of the stoppage was at 1:33 of the second. Woodley’s record drops to 0-3. It was an oddity of a fight, involving two former MMA guys, both of whom were past victims of Jake Paul.
The short punches Silva threw were impressive. That’s not to say he would compete with any of the top-tier cruiserweights. But against this level of an opponent, Silva can thrive.
Jahmal Harvey stayed unbeaten with a six-round unanimous decision win over Kevin Cervantes in super featherweight action in the first fight of the main card. The scores were 60-53, 60-53, and 60-53. Harvey dropped Cervantes in round one with a big shot.
Cherneka Johnson was victorious, holding onto her undisputed female bantamweight championship with a wide 10-round unanimous decision over Canadian challenger Amanda Galle.
The scores were 99-91, 98-92, 97-93. It was a blood bath with Galle bleeding from a bad cut over her left eye through most of the fight. Galle landed cleaner, harder shots, but Johnson’s volume punching may have impressed the judges.
Johnson connected on 135 of 513 punches for a 26% connect rate. Galle landed 124 of 516 for 24%.
Caroline Dubois retained her female WBC lightweight title with a lopsided 10-round unanimous decision over Camilla Panatta. The scores were 99-90, 99-90, and 99-90. Despite the wide scores, it wasn’t an easy fight for Dubois. She was hit frequently by Panatta. Many of the rounds were hard to score because the Italian challenger was pressing the fight, and landing some good shots.
Dubois dropped Panatta with a right hook to the head in the sixth round. Panatta was throwing a right uppercut and never saw Caroline’s shot coming. The difference in the fight was the hand speed of the southpaw Dubois, as she was a lot faster.
Power-wise, there wasn’t much to separate them. Neither of them was a big puncher.
Joshua enters off a knockout loss to Daniel Dubois and hasn’t boxed since elbow surgery. Paul has never shared a ring with a legitimate heavyweight capable of jabbing, stepping, and closing distance without panicking. Those two facts are the only serious questions in a night built mostly for spectacle.
Yokasta Valle edged Yadira Bustillos on a majority nod at strawweight, doing what she always does – turn a fight into jittery volume so judges reward motion instead of clean boxing. It keeps her belts safe, but she never answers anything about separation or real spite.
Avious Griffin and Justin Cardona felt like pub debt territory. Griffin clipped him late in the first and Cardona ended up staring at the roof with five seconds left. The ref jumping in was the only stat that mattered.
Keno Marley opened with a simple points win over Diarra Davis Jr at cruiser. No chaos, no headlines, just wages collected.
