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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more effectively than anyone else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion 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 clean punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, 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 reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality crossover fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."