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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair much more effectively than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch meant Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "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 thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."