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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 pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

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

Trapped in a neutral 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 gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, 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 big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared truly satisfied and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."