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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, 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 looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more succinctly than any observer else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost 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 gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous 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 cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We shook 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 tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared genuinely proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

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

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I believe 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 adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."