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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."