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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming 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 attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real 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 clean punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper 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."