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

"The fans didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper power shot ensured Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated 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 Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him 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 right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor impression of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."