Jake Paul‘s fight with Anthony Joshua ended the way most people expected, with Joshua stopping him in the sixth round. The Drake curse was back.
Paul took the loss at the Kaseya Center in Miami, suffering his first knockout defeat after hanging in longer than Francis Ngannou had against Joshua.
Hours before the opening bell, Drake posted an Instagram story backing Paul. “Jakeyyyyy boy. Lock tf in,” he wrote, attaching a $200,000 wager to the post.
When Paul crumbled in the sixth round, the bet was gone, and social media immediately connected the dots.
The idea of Drake being bad luck is nothing new. The rapper once revealed that he lost $124 million gambling in a single month, much of it tied to UFC bets that went sideways.
Over time, fans began joking that any athlete he publicly supports is doomed. Paul simply became the latest name added to the list.
Ironically, the loss did little to damage Paul‘s standing with fans. If anything, the response leaned toward respect.
Many acknowledged that stepping into the ring with Joshua was a legitimate risk, not a stunt. Joshua is still one of the most dangerous heavyweights of his generation, and Paul stayed upright long enough to make the fight uncomfortable before it ended.
The physical toll became clear immediately afterward. During a post-fight ring interview with Ariel Helwani, Paul did not try to brush it off.
“I think my jaw is broken,” he said.
That line cut through the jokes. Whatever memes were flying around, Paul had taken real damage from a fighter who has spent years at the top of the division. Joshua delivered exactly what much of the boxing community had been asking for, a clean finish that left no room for debate.
Why the loss didn’t feel like a collapse
Joshua earned praise for handling the moment professionally, while Paul earned it simply for showing up. The fight marked Paul‘s first knockout loss, but it did not carry the usual backlash that follows his defeats.
Instead, there was a sense that he had finally tested himself at a level where losing did not automatically equal embarrassment.
In that way, the Drake curse narrative almost worked in Paul‘s favor. Fans joked about the bet, not the boxer. The blame shifted away from the man in the ring and onto the celebrity watching from afar.
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