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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more effectively than any observer else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely stunned 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. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber 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 called the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted 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 amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity 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 highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."