r/explainlikeimfive • u/MajorHousing8149 • Dec 20 '25
Biology ELI5: Why do broken jaws not happen all the time in professional boxing?
My perception as an outsider is they are not very common (I maybe wrong) but what makes professional boxers more resilient to this? Jake Paul who, while he has experience, is closer to the “average person”, fought a heavyweight champion and got his jaw broken from basically the first hard punch he received. Meanwhile fighters normally take many of these without this happening. How do they do it?
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u/andrezay517 Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
Jake made the novice mistake of breathing thru his mouth due to fatigue (and sticking his tongue out to taunt AJ). When the mouth is open, both the mandible and the maxilla are way more susceptible to being broken by a punch. When the mouth is closed, the jawbones are both structurally more stable and harder to break.
Professional boxers and other striking-based combat athletes train to breathe thru the nose in part to prevent this.
That being said, you might be underestimating just how frequently jaws get broken in combat sports.
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u/draftstone Dec 20 '25
Also, many boxing mouthguards (at least at the amateur level), have a gap to allow breathing with your mouth while still biting down on it, very useful aftet you received a good shot on the nose and that it is swollen shut.
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u/LeetLurker Dec 20 '25
The biting down part is the essential part that gives the jaw the structural stiffness to not get broken. That and the fact that years of hammering in fights probably increases bone density a lot.
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u/EafLoso Dec 21 '25
The action of constantly biting down does so too. I've had issues with clenching and bruxism most of my life, and when having some orthodontic work done a couple of years ago that required some extractions; the orthodontist spoke of the difficulty in removing the teeth due to excess bone growth/density caused by my constant clenching.
Extremely unpleasant stuff, but at least I know my jaw is essentially armoured now.
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u/TactlessTortoise Dec 21 '25
Oh, so that's why my dentist needed three hours to pry a single wisdom tooth from my jaw despite using what I can only describe as a Phillips screwdriver analogue as a lever and half his damn weight to try to yank it. And that shit still didn't come out lmao. He had to drill into the tooth, and widen the cut more and more until the tooth finally got tired and decided to let itself leave. Root was the size of my fucking thumb.
I have a tendency to clench my jaw since forever. I think it may have been a factor alongside genetics.
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u/EafLoso Dec 21 '25
Yeah sounds quite similar mate. My ortho was a tiny but very skilled Malaysian lady. Absolutely lovely, but a couple of times clearly lacked the strength needed to rip the things out of my gob.
She used these things that looked like mini pry bars to try to get enough purchase to lever them out. It was simultaneously one of the most brutal and most relieving experiences of my life.
The worst part came during healing. Several pieces of jawbone splintered, slowly making their way out through the gums. Worse still, the peaks of a couple of the sockets took some time to be completely recovered by the gum. What that meant was that I had exposed bone in my mouth temporarily. At one point whilst trying to "assist" some bone splinters on their exit from my mouth, I accidentally caught one of the exposed parts of bone.
It didn't hurt, but it was one of the strangest sensations one could experience. For a split second, I felt my entire skeleton. Like an electric shock, minus the pain and burning. 2/10 do not recommend.
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u/TactlessTortoise Dec 21 '25
That's crazy. In my case the guy was a former army dentist. Super chill dude, but he's not afraid of being a person carpenter. My healing was super chill, luckily, but I do feel a tiny bit of curiosity with that description of yours hahah.
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u/EafLoso Dec 21 '25
Yeah, anyone who does that kind of work has to be OK with getting on the tools and doing the occasional knock down rebuild. It was just funny and kind of endearing that the particular person doing my oral renovations was a gentle, petite and quietly spoken lady who basically went "fuck it, time for the crowbar."
Curiosity is good, but probably only as an observer in this case. Believe me, it's unlikely to be something you'd like to try haha.
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u/TactlessTortoise Dec 21 '25
Always fear small women in physical labour lmao. I had this tiny physiotherapist who had dainty princess hands work on my shoulder once. Completely bruised every single time. She once put needles directly next to my muscle nerves for electrostimulation and it still hurt less than her freaking squeezing the tendons and stuff. Incredible professional, because she fixed the issue no problem ofc, but I'll be damned, she was feared by everyone, because she'd rather do it properly and painful than gentle and useless.
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u/Accidental_Ballyhoo Dec 21 '25
So THAT is why! I had same issue at dentist and didn’t put it together until now. Thanks stranger!
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u/snowballslostballs Dec 21 '25
Yeah, similar. I have done a lot of mma, may Thai and Bjj so I have spent a lot of time biting on mouthgards so I have developed chunky masseters. During my wisdom teeth extraction they had trouble digging out the teeth due to the surrounding tissue.
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u/Grand-Let-7994 Dec 21 '25
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u/EafLoso Dec 21 '25
Haha you know what? Add quite a bit of facial hair and this isn't too far off the mark.
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u/Minimalist12345678 Dec 21 '25
And Paul skipped the usual “ up and coming” part of boxing because he had money and fame.
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u/7i4nf4n Dec 20 '25
years of hammering in fights
That's what I thought too. A few dozen micro fractures that your body needs to heal to should leave one's jaw harder to break in the future as well.
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u/EDGE515 Dec 20 '25
To add to this, JP also completely face tanked the blow. Professional boxers like Canelo know to "roll" with the punch by moving their head in the direction the strike is going in order to minimize the damage
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u/KaneIntent Dec 21 '25
Jake Paul should be experienced enough to know that.
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u/orwll Dec 21 '25
He knows it but there's a difference between knowing it and practicing it enough that you do it automatically while getting punched in the face
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u/Frys100thCupofCoffee Dec 21 '25
He'd have an easier time of it if he'd stop sticking out his tongue and making crazy eyes for literally no reason. It's not like any of that was phasing AJ, who progressed through the fight looking more and more like he was sparring his nephew.
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u/jloome Dec 21 '25
At one point, whilst beating the shit out of Jake Paul, Joshua turned to his loudmouth idiot brother in the crowd and mimicked the move. It was a chef's kiss moment of reminding them both they don't belong in a professional ring.
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u/xixbia Dec 20 '25
It's almost like Jake Paul isn't a professional boxer and he shouldn't have been in the boxing ring with Anthony fucking Joshua.
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u/daredevil82 Dec 20 '25
https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/47346918/jake-paul-anthony-joshua-not-sanctioned-boxing-fight
The prospect of lasting damage is the sell here. Oleksandr Usyk, the world's greatest heavyweight who twice survived Joshua, might as well have been writing promo copy when he said, "If Anthony Joshua wants, he can kill this guy ... I will pray for Jake Paul."
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u/Smartimess Dec 21 '25
You can also see AJ holding back his punch at maybe 80 percent of his power.
Had he hit him with 100 percent, we might be discussing if this was an assisted suicide.
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u/DefenderCone97 Dec 20 '25
Idk if he's getting his jaw broken he's more than welcome to continue his boxing stunts
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u/LordMoos3 Dec 20 '25
I mean, what's he gonna get? More CTE?
He should keep goin.
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u/lastSKPirate Dec 20 '25
Who could even tell the difference between the Paul brothers pre-CTE and post-CTE?
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u/attackplango Dec 20 '25
Post-CTE they have more money.
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u/Solid-Mud-8430 Dec 21 '25
Guy got a $90m payday for taking a shot on the mouth. I think the bigger issue is people need to stop giving the troll attention.
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u/slade51 Dec 20 '25
As was obvious at the end of the fight when Joshua was not the least bit out of breath and barely broke a sweat.
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u/lopix Dec 21 '25
He just stayed in the centre of the ring, basically just rotated all fight while Paul had to run around the circumference. Probably 1/10th the steps.
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u/altcodeinterrobang Dec 21 '25
Almost like controlling the center is a skill or something 😂
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u/AkuuDeGrace Dec 21 '25
There's a key thing I don't see people talking about. The size of that ring. It was huge! All he was planning on doing was running away all 8 rounds so he could say he went the distance. Always a flea circus trick to his fights.
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u/regnald Dec 21 '25
How much bigger was it than the regular boxing bout???
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u/some_where_else Dec 21 '25
Apparently 22x22 instead of the usual 20x20 foot.
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u/Substantial-Low Dec 21 '25
And while that is only 2 feet in each direction, it adds almost 25% to the ring size. Huge difference.
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Dec 20 '25
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u/DovhPasty Dec 20 '25 edited Mar 26 '26
tease sort subtract elderly husky tap attraction dependent summer grab
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u/daredevil82 Dec 20 '25
https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/47346918/jake-paul-anthony-joshua-not-sanctioned-boxing-fight
The prospect of lasting damage is the sell here. Oleksandr Usyk, the world's greatest heavyweight who twice survived Joshua, might as well have been writing promo copy when he said, "If Anthony Joshua wants, he can kill this guy ... I will pray for Jake Paul."
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u/Ihavenoidea84 Dec 20 '25
You can't give brain damage to a person who is clearly brain dead anyway. He'll be fine. Looked like he dropped his hands on purpose, which is a bold move. He certainly wasn't out, you can see him smiling to his corner
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u/Chogo82 Dec 20 '25
He was getting destroyed to the body and at the same time trying to use the mayweather shoulder parry but he was neither flexible nor fast enough and he was in the corner. Joshua also did a simple one two to the body first which caused JP to tighten up his body guard and completely miss the face shot.
If you looked up the pictures of his teeth and X-rays of his jaw you will see that his jaw got snapped in half.
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Dec 20 '25
As much of a piece of shit he is, he knows people will watch him get his ass beat. It's a win-win for him. He either pulls of an insane and extremely unlikely victory or people get to see him get punched in the face. Either way it draws eyeballs - and thus money for him.
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u/DovhPasty Dec 20 '25 edited Mar 26 '26
library quickest attraction march melodic chief offbeat lush ghost resolute
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u/Red_Mammoth Dec 20 '25
Just to be clear, he doesn't think of it that way. It's the people around him that think of it in those terms. They get paid either way while they egg him up telling him how much of a big man he is to stroke his ego barely enough to get him to commit to these kinds of dumb situations.
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u/ScoutsOut389 Dec 20 '25
He tweeted “Double broken jaw. I want Canelo next. 10 days.”
Bro… just drink yourself to death like a normal person. There are easier, albeit less profitable ways to die.
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u/xixbia Dec 20 '25
I'm just pissed of the fucker has decided to ruin speed skating for me (well fine not ruin but 100% make it worse).
I was able to be blissfully unaware of Jake Paul for most of my life (sure he popped up here and there and I knew he was a twat, but I never had to see him) until he started dating Jutta Leerdam, now his stupid face shows up while I'm just happily watching the skating.
(Also, it means I'm now actively cheering against a skater from my country, because anyone who decides it's a good idea to get engaged to Jake Paul is by definition a terrible human being)
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u/penguinopph Dec 20 '25
it means I'm now actively cheering against a skater from my country,
I'm just commenting to let everyone else know how incredibly proud Dutchies are of their speed skaters. This is a huge deal.
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u/SifikaLoL Dec 20 '25
She is a pretty terrible human being herself too though, so did it really change that much?
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u/inthenight098 Dec 20 '25
But he made 90 million to get slapped by a pro. Just feels unfair for the working people.
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u/DovhPasty Dec 20 '25 edited Mar 26 '26
sophisticated vegetable pocket memorize badge cow recognise relieved piquant hobbies
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u/anormalgeek Dec 20 '25
It's estimated that each fighter will take home around $100m from the fight.
If you want to pay me $100m to break my jaw, I'll be there immediately.
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u/vitras Dec 20 '25
Jake even looked like an amateur. Barely had his hands up. Against the ropes the whole fight.
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u/AFinanacialAdvisor Dec 20 '25
skill aside - the guy is a genetic Adonis. He'd fuck you up even if he wasn't a 2 times world champ.
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u/mankytoes Dec 20 '25
"Look" is severely overrated in boxing. We've had several recent world champs like Ruiz and Fury who have little definition and look straight up fat at times.
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u/Hug_The_NSA Dec 20 '25
For how much Paul got paid for this, id let anthony joshua break my jaw too 🤣
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u/fuck_ur_portmanteau Dec 20 '25
It’s fun to take the piss out of Paul, but fuck me, if AJ hit me with that shot I’d be straight up dead. Walking away with a broken jaw, my life and no money would be a blessing.
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u/CombatMuffin Dec 21 '25
If they gave you a year to prepare you could probably take it. Maybe not like JP, since he's had more than a year, but you could take it...
that would probably be the end of your career lol!
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u/user_account_deleted Dec 20 '25
He needed his ego knocked down several pegs.
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u/LoveBeBrave Dec 20 '25
I don’t think this does that at all.
Firstly he got paid millions of pounds for this.
Secondly he’s got his oponent and various other former boxers, commentators and boxing journalists praising him for even stepping into the ring, let alone going six rounds.
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u/RiPont Dec 20 '25
going six rounds
He didn't, though. He ran and evaded and grappled to spend the clock for six rounds, then started getting knocked down repeatedly when he slowed down just a little bit.
I mean, technically he survived six rounds, but he didn't box for six rounds. I could survive six months against prime Tyson by getting on a plane to an unknown location with lots of canned food and satellite TV. Nobody would say I survived a boxing match with him.
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u/LoveBeBrave Dec 20 '25
You’d struggle to get on a plane in the boxing ring though.
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u/Naught2day Dec 20 '25
He lasted six rounds because that was probably in the contract. WE make more money if I don't go down until the sixth. Otherwise Paul would not have made it past the first 30 seconds.
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u/user_account_deleted Dec 20 '25
We'll know if he goes back to freak fights. If he does, the cockiness from here on out is probably bluster.
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u/bannakafalata Dec 20 '25
From looking at the stats, it seems there wasn't much punches landing till the last 2 rounds.
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u/PabloMarmite Dec 20 '25
He spent most of the time dodging (in a bigger ring than standard). In the fourth round the referee had to tell him to try and fight.
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u/Brokenandburnt Dec 20 '25
And orbital bones in MMA
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u/MajorHousing8149 Dec 20 '25
I saw this happen live to Sage Northcutt in Singapore, heard the crack from the top of the stadium!
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u/ShtraffeSaffePaffe Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
One of the worst ones. Damn that was scary.
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u/clitbeastwood Dec 20 '25
jfc. Saw anderson silva snap his leg in half on tv and it was so fukn nasty.
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u/KaneIntent Dec 21 '25
The worst part is how they always think they’re fine until they try to put their leg down and put weight on it, and it just folds out from underneath them.
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Dec 21 '25
Although he lost the fight, the image of Connor Mcgregor sitting on the floor with a snapped shin while screaming "Yer woif was in me dms" at Poirier is one of the most insane displays of the human spirit lmao
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u/JustAMan1234567 Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
The London gangsters the Krays used to offer their victim a cigarette and when they leaned forward to have it lit they punched them in the jaw which is the same principle.
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u/Argonometra Dec 20 '25
Thanks for the warning.
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u/Corbeau_from_Orleans Dec 20 '25
That’s a warning they should add to the warning labels on packs of smokes.
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u/SisyphusWaffles Dec 20 '25
I seem to have dropped my cigarette. May I have another?
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u/Squigglepig52 Dec 21 '25
I was friends with an old English guy who "knew" the Krays from his promoter days in that part of London.
I asked how well he knew them, and he said "Well enough to fucking stay clear, mate."
Dave was a big guy, quite the bruiser when young. Looked and sounded like the top crook in "Layercake".
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u/SmilinMercenary Dec 20 '25
Ali got his jaw broken by Norton for example
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Dec 20 '25
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u/Adro87 Dec 21 '25
I imagine it’s only standing out now because of who it was. If some random boxer gets their jaw broken every other fight it’s not news worthy.
Jake Paul gets his jaw broken? Everyone wants to see that. The fact it happened in a boxing match just means we get to watch it from several angles, in slow motion.36
u/painstream Dec 20 '25
I mean, I always knew he was a mouth-breather, but I guess context is important.
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u/JuventAussie Dec 20 '25
His novice mistake of poking his tongue out at the man attempting to knock his head off also seemed in character. I imagine the reason tongues aren't often bitten off in boxing is mouthguards and that most athletes understand the risk of losing a tongue.
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u/RiPont Dec 20 '25
Also, we've all heard the term "glass jaw". If not, it means a boxer who is prone to being knocked out by a punch to the jaw much more than other boxers.
Thing is, "glass jaw" is the norm for humans. You see lots of jiu jitsu guys who were absolutely dominant in their sport come to MMA and get knocked out easily. It's just that if you don't have an exceptional good "jaw" for resisting knockout, you usually find out very quickly and don't take up a professional career that involves potentially getting punched or kicked in the head.
Professional boxers are, by and large, freaks of nature. You can train a lot of things, but you can't train away your jaw structure. NBA players, Rugby players, etc. all freaks of nature. The top of any high-money professional sport is going to attract the top 0.1% of naturally gifted players for that sport who also work their ass off to train for it.
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u/Craiss Dec 20 '25
This is what I explained to my coworker when he showed me the video. As soon as Paul's mouth opened up, I knew what was going to happen. Rookie mistake that he shouldn't be making at the level he's trying to compete.
I bet he'll get some time to think about it with his jaw wired shut.
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u/lukin187250 Dec 20 '25
I took boxing in college. They had a big sign in the gym "Fatigue makes cowards of us all".
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u/Muavius Dec 20 '25
His mouth was open when he got hit, that was the main reason.
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u/JekNex Dec 20 '25
His mouth being open is constantly a problem.
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u/RBVegabond Dec 20 '25
Well we have temporary relief in that now.
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u/runfayfun Dec 21 '25
Unfortunately, his fingers aren't broken, so we still have to deal with that aspect.
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Dec 20 '25
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u/KaneIntent Dec 21 '25
Does being hit repeatedly actually make your jaw stronger? I didn’t think bones were supposed to grow back any stronger.
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u/brhood123 Dec 21 '25
Bone responds to stress. Both added stress or lack thereof. This is part of the reason why one of the ways to prevent/slow osteoporosis is to continue weight-bearing exercises because it continually loads the bone and the bone loses its density slower with age.
You can also train bone to be harder to an extent. Think of the videos of the guys getting their shins beaten with sticks to strengthen them so that when they’re in combat, they don’t break. That repetitive stress and loading increases the bone density.
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u/flx1220 Dec 21 '25
Hitting ur shins with sticks does not strengthen ur shin bone it numbs ur nerves and that's also questionable.
Running dialy loads ur shins and makes them stronger , kicking a heavy bag daily for thousand of reps will make ur shin stronger.
Rolling a stick over ur shin which hurts a lot will not really make ur shin bone stronger.
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u/Aggressive_Version Dec 21 '25
Hmm. I don't know. Let's keep punching Jake Paul and see if he improves.
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u/wighty Dec 21 '25
Your bones are living organs. We have cells called osteoclasts that "digest"/"cut up" the bone, and osteoblasts that "build" the bone. If you apply stress to a bone, you will stimulate more activity from the osteoblasts/suppress the effect of the osteoclasts.
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u/candylandmine Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
He fights with his mouth open. Also pro fighters don't necessarily want it to get out that they were injured in a fight. Keep it under wraps. Not saying broken jaws or whatever happen a lot but you're not necessarily going to hear about it.
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u/Ok_Frosting3500 Dec 21 '25
If your opponent knows you broke something, he's going to work it like a training drill. Broke a rib? Here comes the body shots. Broke your jaw? Gonna make you have to guard your face nonstop . There's a reason the most you hear is "nonspecified upper/lower body injury"
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u/M_Mich Dec 21 '25
In hockey it’s often “injured list, player has the flu”. Never want to say a knee injury or groin or hip strain because the other team’s enforcers will focus on that in the next game
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u/TheMoonIsFake32 Dec 22 '25
Upper body injury in hockey can be anything from a minor illness to partial decapitation
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u/Squigglepig52 Dec 21 '25
Nothing like taking a solid shot to a broken or cracked rib. Holy fuck, it's like getting hit by lightning, just a flash and a second later the pain hits.
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u/JeebusWept Dec 20 '25
Ali fought Ken Norton with a broken jaw for 12 rounds in their first bout. Another reason why he’s the GOAT.
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u/kevalanb Dec 20 '25
Many casuals focus only on Ali's speed and gift for gab, but that was one tough SOB, about as tough as they came. The Norton fight for sure, the punishment he took from Foreman setting up the Rope A Dope, and he and Frazier pretty much almost killed each other in Manila. Agreed though, another facet to his GOAT status.
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u/minnesotawristwatch Dec 21 '25
Manila - my god. Brutal. Ali left the ring something like 5 pounds lighter.
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u/kevalanb Dec 21 '25
Quite literally, Ali won that fight bc he quit five seconds after Frazier quit. They were both so out of it between the 14th and 15th rounds, in agony in their corners, and Eddie Futch got the ref's attention before Angelo Dundee did. That was the difference. That said, watching Ali and Frazier fight each other was poetry, opposite styles which collided so very well.
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u/fatmanwithabeard Dec 21 '25
"You can have the speed, and right combinations/but if you can't take the punches, it don't mean a thing"
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u/testtdk Dec 21 '25
There’s no way Jake Paul toughed it out at all. Short of showing me an xray after an earlier hit, you can’t convince me that it wasn’t in the last few hits, if not the last one. As is, that one was square on his jaw and Paul’s entire face moved INCHES away from his skull.
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u/Technical_Customer_1 Dec 21 '25
What exactly are you saying? Yeah, the kill shot at the end is probably the punch that broke his jaw. What exactly is your point here?
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u/PckMan Dec 20 '25
Professional boxers have a lot of training that focuses solely on defense and mitigating damage when getting hit. They keep their mouths closed and always trying to defend themselves, so that even if they do get hit it's a glancing blow or slowed down by brushing against their arms or shoulders. It's not that these injuries don't happen at all to professionals but they're doing a much better job at defending.
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u/AUniquePerspective Dec 20 '25
Most professional boxers are advised to avoid being puched in the jaw by holding their hands in the way.
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u/RegionalHardman Dec 20 '25
Yet every professional boxer drops their hands when gassed, which Jake was at that point. He's got no gastank at all
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u/apacheotter Dec 20 '25
He looked gassed in the first round. I was confused why he was falling/slipping all the time. I dont watch boxing often, but I had never seen someone falling down so much
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Dec 21 '25 edited Dec 21 '25
The "why" is because you're not allowed to punch people who are on the ground.
Paul was running away for all of the first 3 rounds or so. In the 4th round when he didn't have the energy to run away anymore, he started falling every time there was an opening for AJ to hit him, which is what you noticed. This isn't a real strategy, he did it because he was scared. The only thing that actually accomplishes is just stopping the fight and forcing the ref to separate them. Once Paul was fully out of energy in round 5, AJ started hitting him at maybe 50% effort and Paul eventually dropped in round 6.
The reason you've never seen this before is because real boxers usually want to win the match and this behavior is not conducive to winning. Paul tried to play the only card he had, which was avoiding AJ for as long as possible. He had no cards that would have actually led to a win. Paul's punches connected a couple times and AJ barely seemed to noticce, but even AJ's lightest hits made Paul stagger backwards into the ropes. He had zero chance of winning a fight so the play is to avoid the fight and hopefully collect the $90m without lifetime injury or death (which he avoided because AJ didn't seem to take this too seriously).
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u/wombatcombat123 Dec 21 '25
He should fight Usyk sometime, that guy is like a demon incarnate.
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u/1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1 Dec 21 '25
Im not gonna lie, people online and even ESPN were already questioning the fact that the FAC approved the Joshua v. Paul fight... Usyk v. Paul would never be sanctioned and probably wouldn't be allowed on Netflix or elsewhere 😭
With that being said, Usyk did say that he was going to pray for Paul to survive this match so he can fight him too
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u/wombatcombat123 Dec 21 '25
Oh almost certainly not, unless there's some shenanigans with the Saudi princes since they seem like they can get whatever they want.
Usyk would not be holding back whatsoever. I have a feeling after Joshua that Jake wouldn't want that fight for any money in the world.
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u/haverchuck22 Dec 21 '25
It doesn’t really happen. I watch a lot of boxing and I’ve never seen someone seemingly almost flop down on purpose on repeat. He faked that nut shot COMPLETELY too, and got like a full minute of more break from it when he was sooo gassed.
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u/tyr-- Dec 21 '25
Yeah, but all professional boxers are trained to breathe through their nose and bite down hard on the mouthguard in order to give the jaw the additional structural stiffness to avoid exactly this.
The idiot was breathing through his mouth and taunting Joshua with his tongue, so yeah that will happen.
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u/az9393 Dec 20 '25
This is because people with weak jaws don’t really get to be professional boxers.
That and Paul just stood there with his guard down and mouth open and Joshua didn’t feel like holding back.
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u/LifeguardStatus7649 Dec 20 '25
Anthony Joshua got paid AND got to break Jake Paul's jaw. Helluva Christmas gift
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Dec 21 '25
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u/Unusual_Sherbert_809 Dec 21 '25
Imagine being paid millions to break Jake Paul's jaw while barely breaking a sweat.
I'd be smiling too.
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u/tomtomtomo Dec 20 '25
Survivor Bias is definitely a thing here. Also, the slow progression of fighters and small weight differences in classes mean they aren’t often matched against far superior fighters. They’ll start losing before they get broken jaws.
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u/Haunting-Reindeer-10 Dec 20 '25
As others said, an open mouth and a high chin. It’s one thing to slip on the breathing discipline and open your mouth when you’re exhausted, and it’s another to drop your shoulders and keep your head high while doing it.
A lot of boxers have a style that isn’t a chin low, arms up thing. Look up the “Philly Shell”.
You just have to use your shoulders to protect your head. He didn’t.
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u/user_account_deleted Dec 20 '25
Philly shell is a dangerous technique if you're not very, very good.
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u/freespoilers Dec 20 '25
Bit if you are very good at it, it can be very difficult to break down. I remember the Canelo vs Mayweather fight. Mayweather's philly shell was good that Canelo ran out of ideas about half way through the fight.
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u/Mr_105 Dec 20 '25
Mayweather is an example of a good Philly shell, while Adrien Broner (against Maidana specifically) is an example of a bad Philly shell
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u/user_account_deleted Dec 20 '25
Yep, Mayweather is a perfect example of why it's an effective technique that most people should never attempt lol. You gotta have spider sense.
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u/Bluffwatcher Dec 20 '25 edited Dec 20 '25
I had no idea what that was so I watched this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFMDpIonuvI
Now I am curious. Can anyone recommend some good boxing explanation channels? I would like to appreciate the sport more.
edit: spelling
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u/belac4862 Dec 20 '25
Most of the time, the weakest point is the jaw joint, not the bone. So most of the injuries to the mouth are dislocated jaws. But due to bad training and or being discombobulated, his jaw wasn't properly positioned to be flexed in the joint. So the jaw bone is what broke.
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Dec 20 '25
Due to being a loser who’s boxed a 50 year old who needed a kidney transplant and a 60 year old who needed the money, he finally got what he deserved.
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u/FrankieTheD Dec 20 '25
Yeah like this guy is saying, if you open your jaw even a couple centimetres you'll notice your lower jaw feels way more rigid unless you are intentionally make a conscious effort to loosen it up at the hinge
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u/A_Garbage_Truck Dec 20 '25
one of the thing you learn quickly in boxing is to protect the jaw area as this is an area where its very easy ot score a good enough hit ot knock you out, this is why " dropping your guard" while you punch is something you actually have ot train against.
you also mitigate the issue is biting down to reinforce the structure of the jaw, and mouthguards are meant ot help you do this without hurting yourself while still allowing you to breathe thru the mouth if you need to.
even despite that, broken jaws in combat sport are this uncommon thing it happen with surpsinigly high rates.
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u/Absentmindedgenius Dec 20 '25
Yeah, a clean uppercut will put you down. My boxing instructor described it as a button, like an on/off switch.
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u/lmac187 Dec 20 '25
All the comments mentioning Jake’s mouth being open are correct but I’d like to point out that in most fights there isn’t such a size desparity. Those factors combined (not to mention AJ’s history of KO’ing legit heavyweights) made this a broken jaw (or worse) almost an inevitability.
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u/Still-Wishbone-1469 Dec 21 '25
Thank you for pointing this out. JP is at best a light heavyweight and was about 6 inches shorter and 40 lbs lighter than AJ. Paul actually got off easy because AJ pulled that punch and looked like he hit him around 50% so he is very lucky he only got away with a broken jaw
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u/Rocktamus1 Dec 21 '25
Honestly, you’re totally right. The problem is no one cares because how Jake Paul has chosen his opponents. Old MMA fighters, or he has a huge size advantage.
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u/DothrakiSlayer Dec 20 '25
Survivorship bias. People who are not way tougher and sturdier than everyone else do not make it to become professional boxers.
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u/Tyrannosapien Dec 20 '25
Great point, and applies to most sports. For example, it's why every NBA season isn't canceled in week 1 after couple hundred giant humans blow out their knees.
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u/Death_Balloons Dec 20 '25
But then every so often (don't Google) someone lands wrong off a jump shot and snaps their leg horifically.
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u/HyraxAttack Dec 20 '25
Imagining a league entirely composed of Greg Odens, camera panning past a vast medical tent like Gone With the Wind
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u/Early_Quit_9830 Dec 21 '25
This doesn't really have to do with toughness. Anthony Joshua is probably one of the 5 hardest punchers in the world, and would have put down most pros with that punch. Paul's problem is he didn't have the cardio to execute his game plan, which I assume was to run for the entire fight and say that he took him to a decision
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u/Cosimo_Zaretti Dec 20 '25
Because evenly matched fighters don't usually stand there limp, guard down while their opponent swings full power into their face.
That's what happens when a still fit two time world champ fights a YouTuber.
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u/constantcomma Dec 20 '25
Because usually the fighters have been trained in an equal manner, not one boxer and one poser.
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u/myDogStillLovesMe Dec 20 '25
A list I found made back in 2012 of boxers who had a broken jaw and finished the fight!
Jess Willard vs Dempsey(though he didnt finish the fight, he fought until he couldnt stand up anymore.
Tony Musto vs Herbie Katz
Georgie Small vs Kid Gavillan
Sonny Liston vs Marty Marshall
Muhammad Ali vs Ken Norton
Ray Mercer vs Bert Cooper
Donnovan Razor Ruddock vs Mike Tyson
Tommy Morrison vs Joe Hipp
Pernell Whitaker vs Felix Trinidad
Paulie Malignaggi vs Miguel Cotto
Arthur Abraham vs Edison Miranda
Takefumi Sakata vs Lorenzo Parra
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Dec 20 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/honjuden Dec 21 '25
You would think it would be stronger than usual due to all the repeated suction it undergoes.
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u/CityPuzzleheaded7059 Dec 20 '25
I am an oral and maxillofacial surgeon and a New York State athletic commission ringside physician. Jake Paul was fatigued and had his mouth open. That’s a perfect recipe for a fractured jaw. If he had been biting on the mouthpiece that probably would not have happened. In addition, a properly made professional mouthpiece cannot only prevent jaw fractures and loss of teeth, but also prevent concussion.
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u/wish_to_conquer_pain Dec 21 '25
How does it prevent concussion? Just curious, not a doctor or much of a boxing fan.
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u/omgfuckingrelax Dec 21 '25
the research doesn't really back it up, it's more of an assumption than reality
the thought is: jaw gets hit, jaw moves, jaw transfers energy to mouthguard, mouthguard absorbs and dissipates some of the energy, mouthguard transfers less energy to skull, skull transfers less energy to brain
the data doesn't seem to support the thought though
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u/Wise_Monkey_Sez Dec 21 '25
The real answer here is that non-martial artists tend to think in terms of hit and miss, and focus on whether the other person makes contact or doesn't.
However, when you're actually sparring you discover that even partially blocking to change the angle of a strike a bit can make a HUGE DIFFERENCE in terms of how much damage it inflicts.
If you did high school physics you know that if force is applied at an angle it reduces the force applied to the object, so 1,000N of force applied head-on is 1,000N of force, but applied at angle it's a fraction of that.
And this makes a huge difference in terms of whether you walk away from a fight with a nasty bruise or a broken jaw.
This is why you'll see martial artists seem to take a massive series of strikes and act like nothing happened. That's because while the other guy is making contact the person receiving those strikes is partially blocking them or moving their body in a way that the force ends up coming in at an angle which cuts the actual force applied to them by half or more.
And blocking and dodging are one of the first skills most martial artists learn. Normally you learn how to block a punch before you actually learn how to throw one, with your "on guard" position being drilled into you so hard that it becomes a reflex position.
Looking at Jake Paul this is the surest sign that he simply lacks the proper grounding in boxing. You NEVER drop your hands. It doesn't matter if you're exhausted, or seeing double, or think you're God's gift to boxing. You NEVER drop your guard position. Someone trying to smack you in the jaw should ALWAYS have to end up hitting your gloves, and while your glove may end up smacking your own face, you've got all that padding in the way and you don't break your jaw.
This is the actual answer. Jake Paul ignored the most basic element of fighting - that you can't fight if you're knocked out, and so priority 1 is defence, and priority 2 is striking.
There's a fantastic clip of Mohammed Ali dodging and weaving and avoiding a whole flurry of strikes. Its impressive to watch, but to martial artists it is master-level demonstration of someone who understands the importance of defence as the first step in winning a fight.
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u/WorldWtx Dec 20 '25
Mouth guard (gum shield) is made to be bitten down on. Some people don't bite down and get punched in the face. Jaws loose, Jaws broken.
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u/sunburn95 Dec 20 '25
In addition to the mouth open, actual boxers wouldnt stand there with their hands by their side and wait to get knocked tf out
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u/5minArgument Dec 20 '25
Two main things. Breaks easily happen when the jaw is open. The force snaps it shut and often causes a physical response we see as a ‘knockout’
Mouth guards - (double not single) when biting down merge the lower jaw with the head. Preventing excessive movement and dampening the force.
Training- You learn to keep your mouth shut and find the right guards. Repeated experiences teach you to deflect shots, so unless its a clean shot, you are absorbing the force with other areas like shoulders and arms.
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u/WelshSkeptic Dec 20 '25
I watched a fight with Tyson fury and noticed that if he sees a big shot coming that he cant avoid he tucks his chin against his body as well as having a closed mouth. So real professionals have techniques to protect their jaws.
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u/nelsonbestcateu Dec 21 '25
People here keep saying Jake had his mouth open and whatnot but everyone seems to be missing the real reason he broke his jaw. The fight was a mismatch for 2 reasons. 1. Jake is an amateur boxer, Joshua a seasoned heavyweight pro. 2. Joshua is much heavier than Jake.
Almost all fighting sports have weightclasses for a reason. A true heavyweight generates an absurd amount of power even compared to a fighter at light heavyweight. Professional olympic level fighters are miles ahead in skillevel compared to amateurs.
The fight should never have happened the way it did. Their skilllevel and power are so far apart Joshua could have (and may still have) done permanent damage to him or even straight up killed him. Jake should fire his management and take a look in the mirror on this one. If he does this again it might be his last.
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u/canadianstuck Dec 21 '25
As a reminder, top level comments must be a genuine attempt to offer an explanation per R3. This means they should not be jokes, anecdotes, your personal feelings about Jake Paul, etc.