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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle much more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a 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 serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard 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 clean power shot ensured Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best 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 thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

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