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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

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

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public receives what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."