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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more effectively than any observer else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, 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 offered an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly 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 streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."