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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "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 mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own labored showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

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

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."