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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal affair much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to escape any longer, and reduced to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him 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 straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful 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 far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating 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 suitably wowed stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."