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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this rubbish," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist 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 clean punch meant Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "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 thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous loss. "We shook off the cobwebs, 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 attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods 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 additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."