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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more succinctly 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 attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and lethal execution 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 awkward for nearly five stanzas.

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

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not 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 expected, but the straight right eventually 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, referencing his previous 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 press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."