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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer 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 shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper punch ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal 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 little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an explanation for his own labored showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."