The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of $184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain's two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests.

In the event, however, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told in the later stages of the eight-round fight, with a sixth-round knockout.

A lackluster contest descended into farce at times, with Paul repeatedly dropping to the canvas and grappling at Joshua's legs.

At one stage even referee Christopher Young appeared to be losing patience, warning the fighters in the fourth round: "The fans did not pay to see this crap."

As Paul tired, the 6ft 6in (1.98m) tall Joshua began to land punches with more regularity, and after knocking down the 6ft 1in American twice in the fifth round, the end came swiftly in the sixth.

Joshua backed the 28-year-old into a corner and, after teeing up Paul with a crunching left, delivered the knockout blow with a right to the chin that sent his opponent crashing to the canvas.

"It wasn't the best performance," Joshua, 36, admitted afterwards. "But the end goal was to get Jake Paul, pin him down and hurt him.

"That was the request leading up, and that was on my mind. It took a bit longer than expected but the right hand finally found its destination."

- Praise for Paul -

Joshua meanwhile praised Paul for lasting into the later rounds.

"I want to give him his props -- he got up time and time again," Joshua said. "It was difficult in there for him, but he kept on trying to find a way. It takes a real man to do that."

Paul, meanwhile, his mouth bloodied from Joshua's final assault, said he believed his jaw had been broken -- but was satisfied with his performance.

"That was fun. I gave it my all," Paul said. "I had a blast. I think my jaw is broken by the way. But Anthony's one of the best to ever do it so. I'm gonna come back and get a world championship.

"I just got tired to be honest -- like it was so much handling his weight. I think with better cardio I could have kept it up and kept on fighting. But he hits really hard."

The American later confirmed in a post on social media, accompanied by an image of a radiograph, that he had suffered a "double broken jaw".

Friday's made-for-streaming contest, which came just over a year after Paul had fought a 58-year-old Mike Tyson in a much-derided Netflix fight, had been widely panned throughout boxing, with many warning that Paul risked serious injury.

Yet the devastating first or second round knockout by Joshua that most had predicted failed to materialize as Paul scrambled desperately to stay outside of the 2012 Olympic champion Joshua's range.

Joshua, fighting for the first time in 15 months, always looked the more threatening fighter, landing 48 of 146 punches thrown compared to Paul's meagre total of 16 punches landed.

The Briton is now turning his attention towards a money-spinning bout against compatriot and fellow former world champion Tyson Fury next year.

"We shook off the cobwebs and I can't wait to roll into 2026," Joshua said. "And if Tyson Fury is as serious as he thinks he is, let's put on some gloves and fight."