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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a 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 became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean power shot ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."