🔗 Share this article

The YouTuber-turned-fighter's mouth gaped wide open, his expression turning to huge glazed saucers as he collapsed to the mat in shock and awe following a pulverising right hand from the former champion. It appeared as if Paul was attempting to say "Whoa!" as the severity of the impact registered to his rattled senses.

"The audience didn't pay to see this crap," snapped the referee, encapsulating the sorry affair far more effectively than anyone else managed to.

Pinned in a neutral corner of the ring in the middle of the sixth round, Paul could no longer run or cling to Joshua's legs in a desperate clinch as the gravity of boxing enveloped him. Instead, as he attempted to withstand the punch that fractured his mandible in two distinct locations, Paul was lost in an utterly dazed moment.

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

It was the fourth time the former YouTuber had been sent to the floor, but the result of a clean punch meant Paul could not get up and waggle his tongue defiantly before the referee called the charade over. As blood began to leak from his lips, and a dull ache spread through his jaw, Paul finally grasped how hard, grueling, and dangerous boxing is at a respectable level of competition.

A Far From Commanding Victory for the Victor

Joshua, it should be stressed, was not impressive amid the chaos. After his hollow victory, he made a cut-throat motion that suggested a precise and lethal execution when, in truth, Joshua had cut a frustrated figure for most of the fight. Rather than glowering with menace or displaying an unshakeable confidence, Joshua had appeared tentative and awkward for almost five rounds.

Paul's poor fitness, which is a fundamental requirement in elite boxing, dictated the result. Without the gas to escape any longer, and resorting to falling to the canvas as frequently as he could for a breather, Paul was rendered defenseless by exhaustion. Joshua delivered the vicious ending, but, until then, he had looked like a sad imitation of the boxer he was in 2017.

The Winner's Post-Fight Assessment

"That was not the best display," Joshua conceded. "The objective was to catch 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 anticipated, but the right hand finally found its destination."

Joshua commended Paul's courage but he offered an explanation for his own stilted 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."

The Future: Past Their Prime and New Talent

In the post-fight interview afterwards, a cheerful Joshua tried out a poor 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 far too late in their careers. Both men are on the far side of the peak.

In contrast, the most interesting big men in the world remain Oleksandr Usyk and the British prospect. Usyk is still the unquestioned ruler of the weight class, after defeating both Joshua and Fury twice. At the same time, Itauma is a rising talent. The youthful British heavyweight likely have required less than half the number of three-minute periods that Joshua needed to knock Paul into a suitably wowed stupor.

Paul's Unbowed Response

But the fans receives what the public wants, and that certainly means more pitiful celebrity contests. Paul seemed genuinely satisfied and brash to have had his mandible fractured by a hammer-like right. In the early hours of the next day, he posted an radiograph, with the two fractures highlighted in red.

That lighthearted reference to Saúl "Canelo" Álvarez, a much superior boxer than Joshua but a equally diminished presence, demonstrated that Paul's comic chutzpah remains unbroken. It might not be Canelo, but Paul will shortly locate someone else with whom he can make more than $50 million.

During his in-ring interview, before departing to the medical facility, Paul spat a tracer of blood onto the canvas. It was one more grim summary of the evening as Paul mixed blunt truth with gory bullshit and stated: "I believe my jaw is broken. It's definitely broke. A proper ass-whipping from one of the best to ever step in the ring. I adore this shit and I'm going to come back and keep on winning."