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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."