The YouTuber-turned-fighter's jaw dropped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the mat in stunned disbelief following a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow registered to his scrambled senses.
"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle far more succinctly than anyone else managed to.
Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.
So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.
It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the official called the charade over. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul at last understood how difficult, grueling, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.
Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the fight. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for nearly five stanzas.
Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any longer, and reduced to falling to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.
"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."
Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an explanation for his own labored showing. "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 head into 2026."
In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.
In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.
But the fans gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional pitiful celebrity fights. Paul appeared truly satisfied and brash to have had his jaw broken 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 lighthearted reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.
During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."
Elara Voss is a cultural anthropologist and freelance writer, passionate about uncovering human stories that bridge divides.
