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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."