Anthony Joshua & Paul Deliver a Sorry Spectacle and the Worst Part is More is to Come

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his eyes becoming huge glazed saucers as he sank to the mat in stunned disbelief following a pulverising right hand from Anthony Joshua. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to utter "Wow!" as the force of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

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 like a forlorn little boy as the gravity of boxing became clear. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the shot that fractured his mandible in two separate places, Paul was caught in an utterly dazed moment.

So this is how it feels, and looks, to be struck cleanly by a genuine boxer, an Olympic gold medallist and former world heavyweight champion. "Wow" 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 rise and taunt his opponent before the referee waved the contest to a halt. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a numbing throb radiated through his jawbone, Paul at last grasped how hard, exhausting, and perilous boxing is at a decent standard of competition.

An Unimpressive Impressive Victory for Joshua

Anthony Joshua, it must be noted, was far from convincing during the bedlam. After his hollow victory, he performed a throat-slitting gesture that hinted at a precise 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 tentative and crude for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a basic essential in elite boxing, shaped the result. Without the gas to escape any more, and resorting to falling to the deck as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered helpless by exhaustion. Joshua applied the brutal ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad shadow of the boxer he had been in 2017.

Joshua's Post-Fight Assessment

"It wasn't the finest performance," Joshua admitted. "The end goal 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 bit longer than expected, but the right hand eventually reached its target."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he added an excuse for his own stilted showing. "He faced a genuine competitor tonight that's had a fifteen-month hiatus," Joshua said, mentioning his previous defeat. "We dusted off the cobwebs, and I am eager to head into 2026."

What Comes Next: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the press conference afterwards, a cheerful Joshua attempted a woeful imitation of Tyson Fury as he demanded a scrap against the currently retired boxer. Joshua will probably get his wish, but that matchup comes much too late in their careers. Both men are on the downward slope of the hill.

In stark contrast, the most interesting big men in the world are the Ukrainian master and the British prospect. Usyk is still the undoubted king of the division, after defeating both Joshua and Fury on two occasions. At the same time, Itauma is a rapidly ascending talent. The young British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of rounds that Joshua required to send Paul into a appropriately astonished state.

The Defeated Fighter's Unbowed Response

But the public receives what the public wants, and that undoubtedly means more pitiful crossover fights. Paul seemed truly satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a sledgehammer right. In the wee hours of Saturday morning, he posted an radiograph, with the pair of breaks highlighted in crimson.

That jokey reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a far greater fighter than Joshua but a equally faded force, 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 spat a streak of blood onto the ring floor. It was another grim symbol 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 proper beating from one of the greatest to ever do it. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and continue winning."