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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that certainly means more low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."