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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a proper power shot meant Paul could not rise and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jaw, Paul finally understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow 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 glowering with menace or displaying an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Comments

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right eventually found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter 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 Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the amount of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."