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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 following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more effectively than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw 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 gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper punch ensured Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the finest performance," Joshua admitted. "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 little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the rust, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed truly proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little 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."