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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover contests. Paul seemed truly proud 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 pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."