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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry affair much more effectively than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best performance," Joshua conceded. "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 bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."