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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more effectively than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best 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 bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."