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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot ensured Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed truly satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."