Chael Sonnen expected Anthony Joshua to stop Jake Paul in their heavyweight boxing match, but he did not anticipate it would take as long as it did.
This past Friday, Joshua, a former two-time unified champion and Olympic gold medalist, put away Paul in the sixth round of their professional fight at Kaseya Center in Miami. Given Joshua’s pedigree, Sonnen was surprised to see the influencer-turned-boxer throw down with Joshua for five full rounds and part of the sixth.
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“It breaks my heart that Anthony Joshua can’t get him out in one round,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “… It is very hard for people to digest that Anthony Joshua can’t cut him off, he can’t find him, he can’t do anything with that reach, he can’t go out there and rush him, he can’t throw this kid in a corner and beat him up. That is disappointing to me. That is baffling to me. As an MMA guy, I will share to you that that would be no problem at all – at all – if a guy is running from me, absolutely no problem. You can out the boundaries at the city line, state line. I will track him down, I will put him somewhere, and I will beat the dog out of him.”
Some people thought Joshua carried Paul from the onset so that Netflix could have a longer show. Sonnen, a former UFC title challenger, doesn’t think that happened. He simply believes Joshua wasn’t able to get him out early.
“I think that they were betting the idea, or the noise around cooperation was going to prevail,” Sonnen said. “I share that with you because the fight was just that. They were fighting. For anyone to think that they saw something different, it’s confusing to me. It makes me happy for that person because I know they’ve never been attacked, they’ve never been in a squabble.”
More: Ex-UFC champ questions legitimacy of Jake Paul vs. Anthony Joshua bout
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Sonnen was complimentary of Paul and impressed he fought as long as he did before falling to Joshua’s power. He thinks it was a win for Paul but not for Joshua, despite the official record saying otherwise.
“Joshua should not have celebrated when that was over,” Sonnen said. “He should not have had that feeling of relief that he did. He did not deserve that. This was a gimme in every possible way.”
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Chael Sonnen disappointed Anthony Joshua didn’t KO Jake Paul sooner
