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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean power shot ensured Paul could not 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 radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually found its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own labored showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for 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 peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

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

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."