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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more succinctly than anyone 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 in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. 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 reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."