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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the force of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not 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 fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former 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 consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

A Far From Impressive Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually found its target."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own labored showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his previous loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."