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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the blow sank in to his rattled senses.

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

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache radiated through his jaw, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish 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 seemed tentative and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and reduced to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left defenseless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he was in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down 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 right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures marked in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."