Did the historic boxing match unfold as it appeared, or was it staged?

Social media has been flooded with speculation, while firm denials have followed.

Jake Paul paid a heavy price for the biggest leap of his boxing career.

The social media star turned professional boxer, who entered the bout with a record of twelve wins and two losses, was knocked out in the sixth round last Friday by former heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua.

The fight took place in Miami and was broadcast on Netflix.

Paul left the ring with a fractured jaw and only the second loss of his career, and the first by knockout.

Despite the clear result and the one-sided nature of the contest, familiar claims of a “fixed fight” quickly resurfaced online.

Critics argued that Joshua, who held clear advantages in experience, size, and skill, could have ended the fight much earlier.

Some alleged that he deliberately waited until the sixth round to make Paul’s defeat appear more respectable.

Nakis Bidarian, co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions and a key figure guiding Paul’s boxing career, strongly rejected the accusations.

Speaking on Monday on “The Ariel Helwani Show,” Bidarian said the claims were completely false and confirmed that legal action was being taken against those spreading them.

“Our lawyers are actively pursuing several individuals,” Bidarian said.

“One of them even claims to be a lawyer and posted a message that received around two hundred thousand likes, alleging there was an agreement that Joshua would not knock out Jake, and that he then broke that agreement.

It is astonishing what people feel comfortable saying”.

Bidarian did not name names but referred to veteran boxing promoter Lou DiBella, who publicly expressed doubts about the bout and wrote on social media that it was “not good for boxing”.

Bidarian noted that DiBella even invited him to sue if he wished, though it remains unclear whether legal steps will be taken.

According to Bidarian, Paul’s serious injury alone disproves any suggestion of prearrangement.

“It defies logic that people think this way, especially when Jake finished the fight with a broken jaw,” he said.

“This was a real fight, just like every other fight in his career”.

He added that Joshua himself said before the bout that failing to stop Paul in the first round would be a disappointment.

“The narrative changed as we got closer to the fight, and certainly after it,” Bidarian said.

“Beforehand, everyone said it would be over in one or two rounds”.

It is worth noting that an estimated sixty million viewers watched the fight live, figures rarely seen in boxing in recent years.

Each fighter is believed to have earned approximately ninety-two million dollars from the event, including shares of broadcast revenue and sponsorships.

Calculated by time spent in the ring, Joshua earned roughly eighty-five thousand dollars for every second of action.