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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a 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 attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion 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 clean punch meant Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both men 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 is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed 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 marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."