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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more effectively than anyone 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 in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper power shot 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 jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right eventually found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may 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 expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."