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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair far more succinctly than any observer else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the finest performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. 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 reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."