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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own stilted performance. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a jovial Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the fans gets what the public wants, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim symbol of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and keep on winning."