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The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped agape, his eyes becoming wide, stunned circles as he collapsed to the canvas in stunned disbelief after a devastating right hand from the former champion. It looked as if Paul was attempting to say "Wow!" as the severity of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The fans didn't spend money to see this garbage," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more effectively than any observer else managed to.

Trapped in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer retreat or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the serious reality of the sweet science enveloped him. Instead, as he tried to absorb the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch meant Paul would not be able to get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee waved the charade to a halt. As blood began to leak from his mouth, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent level of competition.

A Far From Impressive Win for Joshua

Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing amid the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a cut-throat motion that suggested a clinical and deadly execution when, in truth, Joshua had appeared exasperated for most of the fight. Instead of glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had seemed tentative and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as often as he could for a breather, Paul was left helpless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a sad imitation of the boxer he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Aftermath Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The end goal was to get Jake Paul, corner him and hurt him. That has been the plan, and that's what was on my thoughts. It took a bit longer than anticipated, but the right hand eventually found its destination."

Joshua praised Paul's bravery 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, mentioning his previous defeat. "We shook off the rust, and I am eager to head into 2026."

The Future: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference afterwards, a jovial Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he called for a fight against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will probably have his way, but that matchup comes much too late in their professional journeys. Both fighters are on the downward slope of the peak.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the weight class, having beaten both Joshua and Fury twice. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required fewer than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed state.

The Defeated Fighter's Defiant Response

But the public gets what the public desires, and that undoubtedly means additional pitiful crossover contests. Paul appeared genuinely satisfied and cocky to have had his jaw broken by a hammer-like right. In the wee hours of the next day, he posted an X-ray, with the two fractures marked in red.

That jokey reference to the Mexican superstar, a far greater boxer than Joshua but a similarly faded force, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains undented. It may not be Canelo, but Paul will soon locate another opponent with whom he can make north of $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before leaving for the hospital, Paul spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was one more bleak symbol of the evening as Paul mangled blunt truth with gory bravado and stated: "I believe 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 shit and I'm going to return and continue winning."