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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more effectively than anyone else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," 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 little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."