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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more effectively than any observer 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 like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and lethal 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 stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup 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 are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."