Jake Paul said his boxing career is “most definitely” in doubt after Anthony Joshua broke his jaw in two places during their heavyweight fight in Miami in December.
The 29-year-old said he is due to have new jaw scans in a couple of days, a checkup he hopes will show how well the injury is healing and whether he can move back toward the ring.
Paul said the damage was severe enough that doctors fitted two titanium plates and removed some teeth after the bout, which went six rounds before it was stopped when he failed to beat the count following repeated knockdowns.
He said the next medical update will be decisive. “I’m getting some new scans in a couple of days, of the jaw, to get an update on the healing process. We’ll see what the doctors say,” Paul said, adding that he expects the results to give him a better sense of a timeline and whether fighting again is even possible.
Paul started boxing professionally in 2020 and had built a record that drew heavy criticism from traditional fight fans, with most of his previous opponents being boxers well past their prime or former mixed martial artists. The injury changed the conversation overnight. After the loss, he dropped out of the WBA’s cruiserweight rankings, just as his partner at Most Valuable Promotions, Nakisa Bidarian, told Sport earlier this month that he was eyeing a return to cruiserweight.
That idea now hinges on one basic question: whether Paul can spar again. “It does feel a lot better as weeks go by, but I definitely need to get cleared to be able to spar. I’m staying in shape and enjoying some mitt work. I’m always in the gym regardless,” he said.
Paul also said one tooth is still missing and he expects to need an implant of some sort, though he does not yet know how much that will add to his recovery. “Most definitely. I think it just depends on how the bone heals, and then also there’s a tooth missing - I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to get an implant of some sort,” he said. “I don’t know how much time that’s going to add to things. But we just have to see and figure out what the smartest thing is for me.”
For now, the fight calendar is secondary to the scan table. Paul’s next test is not in the ring but in the clinic, where the answer will determine whether his comeback remains a possibility or becomes a question for much later.
