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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more effectively 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 serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" 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 proper punch ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to escape any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

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

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."