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Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in shock and awe following a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on 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 broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was caught in an completely dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been knocked down, but the consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a numbing throb radiated through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, 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 frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him 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 reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own labored showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful impression of Tyson Fury as he demanded a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed truly proud 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 two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly find another opponent with whom he can earn more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak summary of the night as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the best to ever do it. I love this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."