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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than any observer else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling 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 distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch 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 right hand finally reached its destination."

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, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity contests. Paul appeared genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater 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 someone else with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."