U.S. President Donald Trump has revealed that he watched the high-profile boxing bout in which former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua defeated American YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, describing the contest as “fantastic entertainment.”

Trump made the remarks in a post on his Truth Social platform, saying he followed the fight while travelling on board his aircraft.

“On the plane I just got to watch the Jake Paul fight, and he did really well, especially as a display of GREAT courage against a very talented and large Anthony Joshua,” Trump wrote.

While acknowledging Joshua’s size, pedigree and experience at the highest level of professional boxing, the president reserved special praise for Paul’s resilience and effort in stepping into the ring with the much bigger and more accomplished heavyweight.

“Fantastic entertainment, but kudos to Jake for his stamina, and frankly, ability, against a much bigger man!” Trump added.

The bout, which attracted massive global attention due to the contrasting backgrounds of the two fighters, saw Joshua’s power, ring craft and experience ultimately prevail. However, Paul’s willingness to face a former world champion continued to fuel debate about his growing legitimacy within the sport.

Trump’s comments further underline the crossover appeal of the fight, which drew interest well beyond traditional boxing audiences and into mainstream political and celebrity circles, reinforcing the bout’s status as one of the most talked-about sporting spectacles of the moment.

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Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua delivered a dose of reality to Jake Paul on Friday night (Saturday morning in Nigeria) with a savage sixth-round knockout in Miami that left the social-media-star-turned-prizefighter nursing a suspected broken jaw.

Paul managed to evade the heavily favoured Briton through a lacklustre first four rounds before Joshua found his range, knocking his opponent down twice in the fifth round and finishing him off with a devastating right hand in the sixth.

“It took a little bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found its destination,” said Joshua, who was returning to the ring after a 15-month layoff.

“Jake Paul has done really well tonight. I want to give him his props. He got up time and time again. It wasn’t easy in there for him, but he kept trying to find a way.

“It takes a real man to do that… but he came up against a real fighter tonight.”

After the bout, which was carried live to Netflix’s approximately 300 million subscribers, Joshua called out long-time rival Tyson Fury.

“If you’re a real bad man, don’t do all that talking, ‘AJ this, AJ that,’ let’s see you in the ring and talk with your fists,” he said.

Paul, who stepped up from cruiserweight for the bout, has brought a new audience to boxing through his fights and his promotion company, Most Valuable Promotions. However, he was no match for Joshua’s size, strength, and experience.

“I think my jaw is broken,” Paul said before spitting out blood.

“It’s definitely broke but man, that was good. A nice little ass-whooping from one of the best to ever do it … I’m going to come back and get a world championship belt at some point.”

Others were not convinced.

“This is a clown show,” former UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling posted on X.

Paul frustrated Joshua, and viewers, by diving at the Briton’s legs repeatedly and ending up on the canvas in the early rounds.

“Why are people complaining? You knew what you were gonna get,” former mixed martial artist and podcaster Josh Thomson posted. “If you thought anything else you were in denial.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said he had tuned into the fight.

“On the plane I just got to watch the Jake Paul Fight, and he did really well, especially as a display of GREAT Courage against a very talented and large Anthony Joshua,” he posted on Truth Social.

“Fantastic Entertainment, but Kudos to Jake for his Stamina, and frankly, Ability, against a much bigger man!”

-Reuters

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• Paul vs Joshua highlights social media’s impact on boxing
• Joshua promised $50 million for Netflix-streamed fight
• Paul confident despite Joshua’s superior boxing reputation

Jake Paul and Anthony Joshua will bring another year of seismic shifts in boxing to an end in Miami on Friday night in a mismatch that illustrates how much the sport has changed, with online fame now almost as important as punching power.

YouTuber-turned-pugilist Paul, who is stepping up from cruiserweight, takes on the former heavyweight champ seeking to burnish his reputation against the 36-year-old Briton, who was knocked down four times as he lost his most recent fight, an IBF heavyweight title bout with Daniel Dubois in September 2024.

“You know, it’s boxing, boxing skill, boxing on the outside. He’s obviously going to come forward, bring the pressure, be the bigger man. And it’s just being slick, float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” Paul said, channelling former boxing great Muhammad Ali.

While Ali took on a few odd-but-lucrative engagements in his time, such as a mixed-rules fight with professional wrestler Antonio Inoki in 1976, he would hardly recognise boxing’s new world, even if money is still the main motivator.

Joshua, whose career began an alarming slide after he lost his four heavyweight belts to Andy Ruiz in a shocking upset in 2019, has been promised a reputed $50 million plus bonuses for the fight, which will be shown on streaming platform Netflix.

The Netflix audience brings together die-hard boxing fans who will be eager to see what Joshua has left in the tank, and youthful admirers of Paul, with the former hoping Joshua wins convincingly.

“I heard people say like, ‘oh, I’m not really into boxing, but I’m watching this fight’,” Joshua told a press conference on Wednesday. “But no one’s really coming up to me saying anything about Jake, or they want me to knock him out. Just positive vibes.”

BIZARRE FIGHT

Leveraging his fame, Paul’s path in boxing has taken him through former basketball player Nate Robinson and retired MMA fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, as well as a bizarre fight with a 57-year-old Mike Tyson.

However, Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin, who retired on his stool when he fought Joshua in Riyadh two years ago, told Reuters that Joshua possesses the kind of power that could see Paul get seriously hurt in the fight.

“When you’re in that ring, it’s a dangerous place to be, and anything can happen,” Joshua said ominously. “You hope your opponent leaves the ring safely, but if they don’t, you know, you still have to go to bed and know that you’ve just done your job.”

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Paul still believes that he belongs in the ring with a boxer light-years ahead of him in terms of reputation and skill.

“I believe he (Joshua) is locked in and knows that this could potentially be the biggest loss, and will be the big loss of his career, and he has so much to lose in this fight,” Paul said.

-Reuters

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