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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry affair much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling 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 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 champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."