The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.
"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more succinctly than anyone else could.
Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.
So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.
It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.
A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua
Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for nearly five stanzas.
Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.
Joshua's Aftermath Comments
"That was not the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand finally found its target."
Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own stilted performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."
What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars
In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.
In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.
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 genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.
That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can earn 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 one more bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."
