Jake Paul is struggling to sleep after surgery on the broken jaw he suffered in defeat to Anthony Joshua in December.
The 28-year-old took on a monumental challenge when he fought the two-time heavyweight champion in Miami on December 19 and it ended as expected.
The American lasted till the sixth round against AJ, but was stopped by a crushing right hand, leaving him with a broken jaw in two places.
Paul quickly had surgery on the injury but the recovery process has been taxing, as he reveals sleep is hard to come by with the painful problem.
‘I got four plates in my jaw but that’s part of the sport and the healing process has been a little bit tough,’ he told Most Valuable Promotions.
‘I’m a little bit tired, its hard to sleep, I go onto the pillow and then my jaw torques up to the left and I wake up.
‘But it’s all part of the sport, it was an amazing night, I learned a lot, gained a lot of experience and we’re moving on to more fights this year.’
Appearing on his brother Logan’s Impaulsive podcast before Christmas, the 12-2 professional said of his jaw: ‘It’s like there’s a baseball in there. Four titanium plates. It’s literally snapped, bro, completely snapped.’
Despite the grim injury, Paul still intends to return to the ring, but his adventure at heavyweight is over.
‘I’m going to come back and fight people my weight and go for the cruiserweight world championship at some point,’ Paul said after the AJ loss. ‘I’m going to take a little break. I’ve been going hard for six years, so I’m going to take some time off.’
Certainly Paul in a boxing ring is big business, as he confirmed the enormous viewing figures for his scrap with Joshua.
Paul did so while also paying tribute to Sina Ghami and Latif ‘Latz’ Ayodele, Joshua’s close friends who died in the car crash involving the Olympic gold medallist in Nigeria on Monday.
He wrote on X: ‘2 WEEKS LATER…#JakeJoshua 33M viewers tuned on Netflix to watch boxing. The event was #1 in 45 countries. This night was only made possible by the hard work of many, including Team Joshua. This video is dedicated to the memory Sina and Latz. Rest in peace.’
Paul was supporting Amanda Serrano on Saturday night in Puerto Rico as the MVP fighter defended her WBA and WBO featherweight titles against Reina Tellez, winning a unanimous decision.
‘I’m super thankful and grateful to Reina for coming on short notice and coming to fight,’ Serrano said after her opponent replaced Erika Cruz last month. ‘She’s a warrior.
‘It’s been two years since I fought at this weight. I feel the next fights are going to be much better and I’m glad I could give the fans a show.’