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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair much more succinctly than any observer else could.

Trapped 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 like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot ensured Paul could not 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 understood how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a mournful imitation of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. 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 eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive 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 contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of rounds 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 low-quality crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper beating from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."