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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity 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 stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly 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 waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its target."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."