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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the result of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely 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 keep on winning."