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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of 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 fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch meant 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 jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

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

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored showing. "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: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."