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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more succinctly than any observer else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity 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 completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed 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 rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and reduced to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the finest 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 little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much 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 Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

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