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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle far more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Victory for the Victor

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

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite 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 helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

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

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."