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

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair far 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 no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "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 bit longer than expected, but the right hand finally reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a fight 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 heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."