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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the sorry affair much more effectively than anyone else could.

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

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its target."

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

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. 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 amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."