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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal affair far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

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 in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the official called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover contests. Paul seemed truly proud 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 pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly 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."