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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry affair much more effectively than any observer else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer 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 punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. 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 finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous loss. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."