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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

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

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable 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 hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting 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 seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "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 anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared truly satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."