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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

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

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive 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 hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely 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 marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."