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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair far more succinctly than any observer else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul at last understood how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor imitation 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 stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public receives what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."