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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the canvas in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"Those watching didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, encapsulating the dismal spectacle far more effectively than any observer else could.

Trapped in a corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not run or cling to Joshua's legs like a forlorn little boy as the serious reality of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was lost in an completely stunned moment.

So this is how it feels, and appears, to be hit hard by a real professional fighter, an Olympic champion and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Goodness" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a clean power shot ensured Paul would not be able to get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul finally grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for the Victor

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his empty victory, he made a cut-throat motion that hinted at a clinical and lethal finish when, in reality, Joshua had appeared exasperated for the majority of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or exhibiting an iron certainty, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for nearly five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite 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 helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the vicious ending, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a little more time than expected, but the straight right finally reached its target."

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

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the post-fight interview that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap 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 hill.

In stark contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the unquestioned king of the division, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising talent. The young British heavyweight would probably have needed less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately astonished stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Reaction

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means additional pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his jaw broken by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he shared an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, showed that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the hospital, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another grim summary of the night as Paul mangled blunt truth with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's certainly broke. A nice little ass-whipping from one of the greatest to ever do it. I love this sport and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."