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Jake Paul's jaw dropped wide open, 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 looked as if Paul was trying to utter "Whoa!" as the force of the impact registered to his scrambled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this rubbish," snapped the referee, summing up the dismal affair much more succinctly than any observer else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could not retreat or hold on to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of the sweet science became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that broke his jaw in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an completely dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the social media star had been knocked down, but the result of a clean punch ensured Paul would not be able to rise and taunt his opponent before the official waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to trickle from his lips, and a numbing throb spread through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how difficult, exhausting, and dangerous boxing is at a decent standard of professionalism.

An Unimpressive Impressive Win for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it should be stressed, was far from convincing during the chaos. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise and deadly finish when, in reality, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for the majority of the contest. Instead of exuding intimidation or exhibiting an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared hesitant and awkward for almost five stanzas.

Paul's lack of conditioning, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the outcome. Lacking the stamina to escape any more, and reduced to slipping to the canvas as often as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had seemed a mournful shadow of the fighter he had been in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight 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 thoughts. It took a little more time than anticipated, but the straight right eventually reached its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's bravery but he added an explanation for his own labored performance. "He came up against a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month layoff," Joshua said, referencing his last loss. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to roll into 2026."

What Comes Next: Faded Forces and Rising Stars

In the press conference that followed, a cheerful Joshua attempted a poor impression of his domestic rival as he demanded a scrap against the presently inactive boxer. Joshua will likely get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both fighters are on the far side of the hill.

In contrast, the most compelling big men in the world are Oleksandr Usyk and Moses Itauma. Usyk is still the undoubted ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. Meanwhile, Itauma is a rising force. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua needed to send Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means additional low-quality celebrity fights. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash 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 pair of breaks marked in red.

That jokey nod to the Mexican superstar, a much superior fighter than Joshua but a equally faded 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.

While he was being interviewed, 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 mixed harsh reality with blood-flecked bullshit and said: "I think my jaw is broken. It's definitely 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."