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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling 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 fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean power shot ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the finest performance," Joshua admitted. "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 thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains 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 less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably wowed state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public receives what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover contests. 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 posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."