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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more succinctly than any observer else could.

Trapped in a 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 serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

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 throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, 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 objective was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find 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 one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."