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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

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

Trapped in a 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 gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" 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 rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal 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 bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own labored 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 can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded 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 men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. 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 knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, 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 mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."