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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 after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted 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 similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."