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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the official called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted 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 poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that certainly means additional pitiful crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."