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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more succinctly than anyone else could.

Pinned in a 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 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 that is what it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper 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 mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he offered an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous 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 afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly proud and cocky 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 two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."