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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair 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 retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight 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 downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."