🔗 Share this article

Jake Paul's jaw dropped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following 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 spend money to see this crap," said the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more effectively than any observer else could.

Pinned in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the shot that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, 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 consequences of a proper power shot meant Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the official called the charade to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul finally understood how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was not impressive during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared hesitant and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in top-level boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was rendered defenseless by fatigue. Joshua applied the brutal finish, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua'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 bit longer than anticipated, but the straight right finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against 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."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and New Talent

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a poor impression of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely have his way, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have needed fewer than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the fans gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means more low-quality crossover contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied 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 lighthearted nod to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak summary of the evening as Paul mixed harsh reality with gory bravado and stated: "I think 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."