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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the force of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair much more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper power shot ensured Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "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 mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

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

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I think 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 sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."