Anthony Joshua to lose £32m prize money after | Boxing News

Anthony Joshua is set to half with a good portion of his prize money following his knockout victory over Jake Paul. Joshua floored Paul in the sixth spherical of their heavyweight conflict at the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida on Friday. Despite successful the much-anticipated bout, the 36-year-old admitted he might have carried out better against the YouTuber-turned-boxer.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Joshua said: “I deserve it,” when requested if he anticipated criticism for permitting Paul to last six rounds. He added: “Because we are elite fighters, if I put myself in the shoes of a coach, if my fighter did six rounds with Jake Paul. I would get him back in the gym tomorrow, give him a bit of a beating and get straight back to work. I’d be like, ‘How are you letting this kid take you six rounds? Are you crazy?’

“But I am unable to go back in time, but credit to him, he finished effectively. I told him what would occur but it just took six rounds to do it.”

Despite Joshua’s self-criticism, the two-time unified heavyweight champion has plenty to celebrate after securing a substantial payday. Reports suggest that he and Paul split a prize purse worth approximately £137million evenly.

Referee Christopher Young officially ended the fight at 1:31 of the sixth round, meaning Paul (12-2) and Joshua (29-4, 26 KOs) battled it out for a total of 989 seconds.

Based on reports suggesting each fighter pocketed £68.5m from the bout, the British boxer therefore banked approximately £69k per second, or £4.1m per minute, whilst competing inside the ropes.

But for Joshua, he’s unlikely to pocket his complete earnings from the Netflix spectacle. As a UK resident, the Watford-born fighter faces tax obligations to both American and British revenue authorities.

According to AceOdds, 37 per cent of Joshua’s prize money, totalling approximately £25.6m, will head straight to the IRS. Despite Florida lacking state taxation, he remains subject to US income tax at the maximum rate, given the fight occurred on American territory.

Joshua must also pay the gap between his complete UK tax obligation and the US tax already deducted, amounting to roughly £5.5m owed to HMRC.

An additional £1.4m must be forwarded for National Insurance contributions, pushing Joshua’s overall tax burden to around £32m.

Nevertheless, Joshua insists financial gain wasn’t his primary driving force for accepting the Paul challenge. “It’s not even my greatest payday; it isn’t about money,” he said.

“For me, it was more about the chance. I had to showcase my expertise to the world.”

This article first appeared on Mirror US.