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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean power shot ensured Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "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 thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."