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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry affair far more effectively than anyone else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic champion and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the referee called the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"It wasn't the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua tried out a poor imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly satisfied and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in red.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked 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 come back and continue winning."