Anthony Joshua knocked down Jake Paul three times to score a devastating sixth-round stoppage win Friday night in Miami.

Paul’s jaw was broken in two places, and surgery was required immediately afterward. Joshua, however, was not satisfied with his performance against a novice who many expected wouldn’t make it out of the first round.

“What I could have done better is a lot of things, one hundred percent,” Joshua said during his post-fight press conference. “In the fight game, you’ve seen the amazing fighters that have graced us over the last hundred years. The expectations that we put on ourselves are immense, but I tried my best. Jake [did] well while it lasted.

“I wish that I could have knocked him out at the start, but as we saw tonight, Jake has spirit. He has some heart. He tried his best, and I take my hat off to him. Because number one, a lot of fighters haven't got in the ring with me, and Jake did. And secondly, even when he got knocked down, he kept on trying to get up.”

The outmatched Paul made the meeting a sloppy slugfest by backpedaling most of the fight. But the two-time former unified heavyweight champion eventually caught him, as expected, to score the victory in their scheduled eight-rounder.

“In the clinch, he [did] really well,” Joshua said. “When you’re in survival mode, you’ll always find a way,” Joshua said. “I was trying to look for certain shots. I actually wanted to let my hands go in the clinch, but he [did] well to tie my hands up. And as you could see, when they were free, I tried to land a few body shots.

“And yeah, I tried when I could. It was a bit messy. But from a systematic breakdown, the right hand landed. It found its home, and the referee waved it off after. I would’ve loved to have landed some more body shots, but it wasn’t for tonight. Maybe in the future, but we got the job done in the end anyway.”

Paul (12-2, 7 KOs) relied on his feet and was fleeing around the ring until England’s Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) finally caught him. The two-time unified champion dropped the YouTuber-turned-boxer twice in the fifth before landing the jaw-shattering shot that ended matters in the sixth.

Joshua landed 48 of 146 punches, while Paul countered with just 16 of his 56 shots, according to CompuBox.

“I needed to do better,” Joshua said. “It’s a win, but it’s not a success. I think my coach expects more from me, and I expect more for myself. But what can we do? We can’t reverse the clock. I have to move forward. I have to put that in the past now. After today, you may see a bit of social media trying to lap up all of the algorithm attention, but for me, it’s in the past. I can’t live off that win. I’ve got a lot of improvement that I need to do. So yeah, I’m not happy.”