🔗 Share this article

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't pay to see this garbage," said the referee, summing up the dismal spectacle much more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper power shot ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a precise and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and crude for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. 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, referencing his last loss. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight 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 downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler 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 fewer than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

Paul's Defiant Reaction

But the fans receives what the public desires, and that certainly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul appeared truly proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded presence, showed that Paul's brazen audacity is unbroken. 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 departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with gory bullshit and stated: "I think my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."