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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.

So that is what it is like, and looks, to be hit hard 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 sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly 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 breather, Paul was left defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "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 straight right finally reached its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: 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 fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed truly satisfied 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 highlighted in crimson.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."