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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for the Victor

Anthony 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 lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective 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 little more time than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out 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 far too late in their careers. Both men 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 remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

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

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

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."