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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair far more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper power shot ensured Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."