MIAMI — One hurdle has been cleared in setting up what has long been one of the biggest fights that can be made in boxing.

Anthony Joshua dropped Jake Paul four times in a sixth-round knockout victory on Netflix at Kaseya Center. After the win, Joshua made it no secret he wants to step in the ring with next.

“If Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is and he wants to put down his Twitter fingers, and put on some gloves and come and fight one of the realest fighters that will take on any challenge, step in the ring with me next if you’re a real bad boy," Joshua said. "Don’t do all that talking, 'AJ this, AJ that.' Let’s see you in the ring and talk with your fists."

It took longer than many expected for Joshua (29-4, 25 KOs). Paul (12-2, 7 KOs) was on the move for most of the fight and made him miss. In the fourth round, Paul showed signs of slowing down and fell to the canvas on numerous occasions, one of which drew a warning from referee Christopher Young after Joshua landed body shots.

Late in the fifth round, Paul, 28, went to the canvas twice as Joshua landed a punch while he was diving at his legs. The same thing happened again at the start of the sixth, but later in the round the two-time unified heavyweight champion finally landed the straight right hand he’d been seeking all night, and Paul went to the canvas for good.

Joshua, 36, was fighting for the first time since September of last year, when he was knocked out in the fifth round by Daniel Dubois in an IBF heavyweight title bout.

“It wasn’t the best performance,” Joshua said. “The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That had been the request leading up, and that was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found the destination.”

At the post-fight press conference, Most Valuable Promotions CEO and co-founder Nakisa Bidarian said that Paul went to the hospital. Paul said after the fight that he believed he had a broken jaw.

Riyadh Season announced last week that plans are in place to make Joshua vs. Fury in 2026 if they can win interim bouts earlier in the year. Joshua and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, added Friday night that they're willing to go straight into the fight with Fury.

The former champions have long been intertwined as two of the best heavyweights of their era, though, they’ve traded countless verbal barbs and have been on the cusp of fighting before. The heat between them reignited earlier this week when Fury criticized Joshua over his comments about being willing to kill someone in the buildup to his fight vs. Paul.

Fury's half-brother, Tommy Fury, handed Paul his first loss by split decision in 2023.

"I've been sent a video of Anthony Joshua talking about if he kills somebody, he kills somebody in a boxing ring. I think he's a little bit long in the tooth to be talking like that," he said in a clip posted to social media. "He's at the end of his career fighting a YouTuber, a Disney Channel guy, who Tommy beat and now he's talking about killing him and all that to try and sell, please.

"He's barking up the wrong tree, idiot. Here's a fun fact: if I ever come across you, bum, I'm knocking you dead, spark out. I ain't a YouTuber or a man half your size. I am him, the man. You're a classless loser coming off a 15-month knockout defeat to a local lad."

Joshua responded at the final press conference on Wednesday: “That’s just the mentality that we have to have as fighters. When you’re in that ring, that’s a dangerous place to be. Anything can happen. You hope that your opponent leaves the ring safely, but if they don’t, you still have to go to bed at night knowing you’ve just done your job. It’s nothing personal.”

Joshua-Fury, however, feels personal.