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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle much more effectively than any observer else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any longer, 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 finish, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the right hand finally reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality crossover fights. Paul seemed truly satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."