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

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned 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 former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

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

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, 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 big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can make more than $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 grim summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."