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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

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 in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."