Jake Paul has said he has undergone a second surgery on his jaw, two months after his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua in their boxing match.
Paul took on Joshua, a former two-time world heavyweight champion, in a controversial bout in December, with “AJ” stopping the influencer-turned-boxer in six rounds.
Paul, 29, suffered a broken jaw in that defeat, leaving him in need of surgery in the days after the fight. And now, the American has undergone further treatment, he has said.
“Had to get another jaw surgery,” Paul wrote on Instagram. “The screws and plates were coming loose because apparently I didn’t rest for the past 2 months whaattttttttt.”
Paul attached photos and videos of himself in hospital, accompanied by his Dutch girlfriend Jutta Leerdam, who won speed-skating gold and silver at the Winter Olympics this month.
But Paul also included two edited clips of himself with a mechanised jaw, poking fun at his recovery.
“How about that for you? All that chrome in there, that’s the hinge and the new teeth,” he said in one clip. “Runs on tiny servos, super smooth.” In the other edited clip, Paul pretended he could remove one side of his jaw, revealing wiring and robotics inside. “What is that? Ask how I get millions of views. Pretty wild, right? Watch this. Good as new. Keep it between us.”
While Paul has been in good spirits as he recovers from his jaw injury, the last two months have been much more sobering for Joshua, in spite of his victory.
Ten days after beating Paul, the Briton was a passenger in a car crash in Nigeria, with the accident claiming the lives of two of his teammates.
Joshua, 36, returned to training in January after paying tribute to his friends – Sina Ghami and Latif “Latz” Ayodele – but his competitive return is up in the air.
Some fans questioned whether he would box again, but Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn hinted at a summer return on Thursday.
“Look, originally the plan with ‘AJ’ was for him to fight in March, and then fight Tyson Fury in August,” Hearn started. “That’s not happening, he’s not fighting Tyson Fury next.
“He’s going to come back – I believe – late summer, but physically he’s not yet in a position to return to camp. So, I’m planning, but he’s just resting and preparing.
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“So for me, I’m looking at options to get him back in the ring in July time, but we’ll only know if that’s a real possibility when he returns to camp, which will hopefully be in the next couple of weeks or a month.”
When asked whether Joshua’s next bout could be somewhat of a warm-up for a tougher test, Hearn said: “I think every fight’s dangerous, coming off what he’s come off, but yeah, I think... We’re open to the Tyson Fury fight, but probably more likely end of the year, maybe early 2027.”
Joshua was linked with kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven prior to December’s crash, but Hearn said: “I believe he’s fighting... rumours of him fighting [Oleksandr] Usyk, yeah.”
Usyk, who twice beat Joshua on points, is currently the unified heavyweight champion.
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