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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 after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling 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 that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean power shot meant Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, 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 result. Without the gas to escape any more, 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, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

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

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul appeared truly satisfied and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. 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 departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."