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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than any observer else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men 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 twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."