🔗 Share this article

Jake Paul's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact sank in to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run 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 broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

So that is what it feels, and looks, to be hit hard by a real boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former 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 result of a clean power shot ensured Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul at last understood how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of professionalism.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had seemed hesitant and crude for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Lacking the stamina to flee any longer, and resorting to falling to the canvas as often as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Comments

"That was not the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I can't wait to roll into 2026."

The Future: Past Their Prime and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor imitation of his domestic rival as he demanded a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that bout comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling heavyweights in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight would probably have required fewer than half the amount of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Reaction

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a similarly diminished force, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah is undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon 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 ring floor. It was one more grim symbol of the evening as Paul mangled harsh reality with blood-flecked bravado and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."