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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas 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 registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle 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 not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, 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 contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal 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 expected, but the straight right finally reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."