Jake Paul Injury Update: Boxer Reveals Graphic Jaw Surgery Complications After Joshua KO

A prizefighter's broken jaw is usually a private misery: swelling, soup, silence. Jake Paul, being Jake Paul, turned his into content - and then had to go back under the knife when the hardware in his face started coming loose.​

Here is the situation, without the noise: Paul says he needed a second jaw operation because 'the screws and plates were coming loose;' the damage traces back to Anthony Joshua's sixth-round knockout of Paul in December; and, while Paul is recovering, he has also been on the road supporting his fiancée, Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, after her Olympic gold and record in Italy.​

Jake Paul's Jaw, and the Price of Not Resting

Paul revealed the setback on Instagram on Friday, writing: 'Had to get another jaw surgery. The screws and plates were coming loose because apparently I didn't rest for the past 2 months whaattttttttt.' Reports describing the post said it included photos and videos from the hospital, including edited clips that played up the mechanics of his jaw after the procedure.

It is hard not to read the line about 'didn't rest' as half-joke, half-confession. The old-school boxing world may sneer at Paul's celebrity shortcut, but the part that cannot be ignored is bone and metal: if plates loosen, it is not a matter to debate on a podcast — it must be fixed.

The injury itself dates to Dec. 19, when Joshua stopped Paul in the sixth round in a heavyweight bout held in Miami and carried on Netflix. Paul required surgery afterward, with coverage reporting titanium plates inserted to stabilize his jaw.

Soon after that first operation, Paul posted an update saying, 'Just got out of surgery. Everything went smooth... Lots of pain and stiffness. Gotta eat liquids for 7 days,' adding a shoutout to the team at the University of Miami Hospital.

Joshua, for his part, sounded less boastful and more like someone acknowledging the bizarre little theatre boxing has wandered into. 'Jake Paul has done really well tonight. I want to give him his props, he got up, time and time again,' he said, before adding, 'It takes a real man to do that... we have to give Jake his respect for trying.'

Jake Paul Between Surgery and the Olympic Spotlight

While Paul deals with another round of recovery, his public life has shown little sign of slowing to a respectful hush. He has been travelling to watch Leerdam at the Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics — an event staged across northern Italy, far from the humid Miami corridors where he was previously wheeled towards an operating room.

Leerdam won the women's 1,000 meters speed skating gold with an Olympic-record time of 1:12.31, as shown in NBC's coverage. The Associated Press reported Paul watched from a second-row seat in Dutch orange, then described the moment afterward in awe: 'Honestly, words can't express it. It's the most incredible feeling I've ever seen... And she did it under the greatest pressure.'​​

Leerdam, too, framed his reaction as something more human than brand strategy, telling the AP: 'He understands the pressure I was under... he is definitely emotionally involved.' A simple visual for how strange this fortnight has been for the couple would be a split-screen map: Miami for the fight and first surgery, then Milan–Cortina for the gold-medal tears, and back to a hospital bed for the second jaw operation.

There is also an irony that Paul almost invites: the man who built an empire on refusing to take anything quietly is now being reminded, very literally, that healing does not care about momentum.