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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

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

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a clean punch ensured Paul could not rise and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the chaos. After his empty victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a precise and lethal execution 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 hesitant and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the best performance," 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 bit longer than expected, but the straight right finally found its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, mentioning his last defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have needed fewer than half the amount of three-minute periods that Joshua required to knock Paul into a suitably astonished state.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and cocky to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in crimson.

That lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity remains undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find another opponent with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the hospital, Paul expelled a streak of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A proper beating from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and continue winning."