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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

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

Pinned in a neutral 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 serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist 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 proper power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the official called the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

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

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired 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 hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."