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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more succinctly than any observer else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own labored showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."