🔗 Share this article

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from Anthony Joshua. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact sank in to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't spend money to see this garbage," said the referee, encapsulating the dismal spectacle much more succinctly than anyone else could.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to trickle from his mouth, and a dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to flee any more, and resorting to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a sad imitation of the fighter he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to catch Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

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

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor imitation of Tyson Fury 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 careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk remains the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is unbroken. It may 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 departing to the hospital, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "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 sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."