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Jake Paul's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe after a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was trying to say "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't spend money to see this crap," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal affair far more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a corner of the ring midway through the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or hold on 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 fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly stunned moment.

So that is what it feels, and appears, to be struck cleanly by a genuine professional fighter, an Olympic gold medallist and ex- world heavyweight champion. "Wow" is indeed the appropriate term.

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the consequences of a proper punch meant Paul could not get up and taunt his opponent before the referee called the contest over. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

An Unimpressive Commanding Win for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a throat-slitting gesture that suggested a clinical and lethal execution when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed hesitant and awkward for nearly five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in top-level boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to slipping to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious finish, but, up to that point, he had looked like a mournful shadow of the fighter he was in 2017.

Joshua's Aftermath Assessment

"It wasn't the finest display," Joshua admitted. "The objective was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and do damage. That has been the request, and that's what was on my mind. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a real fighter tonight that's had a 15-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful impression of his domestic rival as he called for a fight against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that bout comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting heavyweights in the world remain the Ukrainian master and Moses Itauma. Usyk remains the undoubted ruler of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have needed less than half the amount of rounds that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a appropriately wowed state.

Paul's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that certainly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed genuinely proud and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the early hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a similarly faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will soon find someone else with whom he can earn north of $50 million.

While he was being interviewed, before leaving for the medical facility, Paul expelled a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was another bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory 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 step in the ring. I adore this sport and I'm going to return and continue winning."