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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

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

Pinned in a neutral 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 feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch meant Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the official waved the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul at last understood how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent level of professionalism.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and deadly execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Comments

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," 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 press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he shared an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and keep on winning."