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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

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

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot ensured Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting 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, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any more, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity 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 tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."