‘Paul was sitting there waiting to get hit’ – Lewis leads big-name reaction

Former world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis has said Jake Paul “wasn’t in good shape” for his fight against Anthony Joshua.

The British heavyweight stopped boxing novice Paul when he failed to beat the count in the sixth round.

“Paul wasn’t in good shape, especially for a big heavyweight like that,” Lewis told Netflix.

“After a couple rounds it showed, he was basically sitting there waiting to get hit.”

The three-time world champion felt Joshua’s 15-month absence from the ring was the reason he failed to stop the YouTuber-turned-boxer earlier.

The bout with Paul was his first action since his defeat against Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium in September 2024.

“When Anthony said he’d been out for 15 months, it showed,” Lewis added.

“He needed a couple of rounds to warm up and get used to the ring again before he threw those punches.

“He did what he had to do. He had a guy in front of him running around the ring and he had to catch up with him.”

Former super middleweight Andre Ward was less harsh on Paul’s initial performance.

“When Paul got tired he panicked,” Ward said. “That’s a sign of fatigue. He helped Joshua out a little bit because he was having decent success early on.

“You have to give Joshua that little bit of grace too, Jake Paul was good enough to make things interesting for a little while.”

Boxing manager Sam Jones wrote on X that the spectacle was “horrendous”, but there was some respect from the boxing world for Paul.

Chris Eubank Jr was among those to praise the American.

“Regardless of the outcome Jake Paul got into the ring with an Olympic gold medallist and former heavyweight world champion and tried his best until the very end,” Eubank wrote on X.

“You have to give him his respect now. He’s done what most would never do and he didn’t give up.”

Former world heavyweight champion David Haye agreed that Paul deserved respect for surviving six rounds.

“Joshua is trying a little too hard. It’s not about winning, it’s about how he wins,” Haye said during the early stages.

He then added: “Jake Paul was competitive in there. It was frustrating for Anthony Joshua in the early rounds.”