Jake Paul, a popular YouTube creator, was knocked out in the first round of his professional boxing debut on Sunday night in Saudi Arabia by Tommy Fury, a former professional boxer who is now a reality TV celebrity. The bout was decided by a split decision.
At the conclusion of their eight-round cruiserweight fight at the Diriyah Arena near the capital Riyadh, two judges both scored the fight 76-73 for Fury, while the third judge ruled 75-74 in favour of Paul. The fight was contested in Saudi Arabia.
Following the bout, Fury was quoted as saying, “In my first main event, at 23 years old, I had the world on my shoulders, and I came through.” I consider this to be a fight for a world title. I put in a lot of work to get ready for this. This was always going to be my path. Paul, a 26-year-old American with more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, is now 6-1 while Fury, a British younger half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, remains undefeated with nine wins despite taking time out of his boxing career in 2019 to star in reality show “Love Island.” Paul’s record currently stands at 6-1, while Fury’s record stands at 9-0.
It was predicted that millions of fans would tune in to see the fight, which was the latest pay-per-view match to involve a YouTuber and generate a buzz on social media. Promoters played up the bad blood between the two competitors in order to generate interest in the fight. And just like an actual fight for the world title, there were a lot of celebrities in attendance, such as former champion Mike Tyson, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and comedian Kevin Hart.
Nevertheless, in the fifth round, the YouTuber gained momentum and appeared to startle Fury by keeping him at a distance despite Fury’s early use of his jab to keep Paul at bay.
Paul, a 26-year-old American with more than 20 million YouTube subscribers, is now 6-1 while Fury, a British younger half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, remains undefeated with nine wins despite taking time out of his boxing career in 2019 to star in reality show “Love Island.” Paul’s record currently stands at 6-1, while Fury’s record stands at 9-0.
It was predicted that millions of fans would tune in to see the fight, which was the latest pay-per-view match to involve a YouTuber and generate a buzz on social media. Promoters played up the bad blood between the two competitors in order to generate interest in the fight. And just like an actual fight for the world title, there were a lot of celebrities in attendance, such as former champion Mike Tyson, soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, and comedian Kevin Hart.
Nevertheless, in the fifth round, the YouTuber gained momentum and appeared to startle Fury by keeping him at a distance despite Fury’s early use of his jab to keep Paul at bay. Both fighters had points deducted from their totals; Paul in the fifth round for pulling his opponent’s head down when clinching, and Fury in the sixth round for excessive clinching, which is a defensive strategy that is often only allowed for brief intervals of time.
In the eighth round, Paul dropped Fury with a short left hand, but it was too little, too late as the judges ruled in favour of Fury.
Paul stated that he planned to invoke a rematch clause for the bout on Sunday, which might be activated in the event that Fury wins.
“With all due respect to Tommy, he came out on top; but, I would ask that you not judge me by my victories but rather by my defeats. Paul declared after the bout, “I’ll come back, I thought I deserve that rematch, it was a tremendous battle, it was a close fight,” and he did just that.
Paul started boxing for the first time in 2018, but he already had six wins under his belt before his fight on Sunday, including four knockouts. Fury, on the other hand, was Paul’s first encounter with a professional fighter.
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