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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle far more effectively than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist 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 result of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate 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 ring floor. It was another grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."