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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more succinctly than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling 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 caught in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed 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 longer, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own labored showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I believe 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 continue winning."