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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a clean punch meant Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually found its target."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "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: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly 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 keep on winning."