After Jake Paul got knocked out by Anthony Joshua, it might be hard to imagine him linked to Muhammad Ali.
But he is.
Paul and Ali both suffered broken jaws in the boxing ring.
A wicked right hand from Joshua broke Paul’s jaw in two places Friday night based on an X-ray that Paul posted online. The punch also knocked out Paul in the sixth round of their heavyweight fight.
In 1973, Ken Norton broke Ali’s jaw.
Ali said he lost three teeth. (He also lost the fight). Video taken after Paul got KO’d at the Kaseya Center in Miami showed several of Paul’s teeth had been knocked askew.
What comes next for Paul could be more than uncomfortable.
During an appearance on the ‘The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’ in 1973, Ali said he underwent surgery, during which his jaw was wired shut.
‘And when I woke up, I couldn’t move my teeth,’ Ali said. ‘And I got an mirror and all my teeth are wired. And I almost went crazy, just the idea I couldn’t talk.’
Not talking could prove just as difficult for Paul, who during the leadup to his fight against Joshua borrowed words from Ali. Paul said he was going to ‘float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.’
Instead, he got stung.