🔗 Share this article

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest 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 right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

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

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak summary of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."