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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, 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 social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and deadly execution 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 nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal 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 anticipated, but the right hand finally reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. 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 fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."