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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

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

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, 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 sent to the floor, but the result of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover fights. Paul appeared genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."