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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair far more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an explanation 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 dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."