🔗 Share this article

Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his expression turning to wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this garbage," snapped the referee, summing up the sorry spectacle far more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two separate places, Paul was caught in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it is like, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is certainly the word.

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 would not be able to 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 dull ache radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable standard of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and deadly finish when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the contest. Rather than exuding intimidation or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Without the gas to flee any longer, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as frequently as he could for a rest, Paul was left helpless by fatigue. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, up to that point, he had seemed a sad imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best performance," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to catch 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 anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its target."

Joshua praised Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted showing. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, referencing his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I can't wait to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua tried out a woeful imitation of his domestic rival as he called for a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes far too late in their professional journeys. Both men are on the far side of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending force. The youthful British heavyweight would probably have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality crossover 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 shared an X-ray, with the pair of breaks marked in red.

That lighthearted nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bravado and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."