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Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in shock and awe after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," said the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not 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 attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him 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 finally reached its target."

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

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Reaction

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the evening 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 step in the ring. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."