🔗 Share this article

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the blow sank in to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this crap," said the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer 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 separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the word.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than expected, but the right hand finally found its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own labored showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared truly proud and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally faded force, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was another bleak symbol of the night as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."