On, Aug. 29th, every dorm room interested in the Jake Paul boxing saga bustled with excitement at the thought of Paul being knocked out by former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Woodley had an impressive career, spending more than five hours in the ring— about 55 times more than Paul has with only five minutes and 41 seconds fighting in total. The statistics looked promising until it was obvious why Paul chose Woodley to fight; Woodley is 15 years older than Paul and hasn’t knocked out an opponent in five years.
Additionally, in order to fight Paul, Woodley had to transition from his traditional MMA fighting to boxing. In Woodley’s last match, he was outstruck 336-60. His opponent landed more than five times more strikes than he did. Paul clearly had the advantage in the fight as he knew more boxing strategies than Woodley and was a solid betting favorite. Until Aug. 29th, none of Paul’s opponents had made it into the second round and he had three knockouts, going 3-0.
Eyes drew to Paul’s belt as he walked to the ring, featuring small screens with his name flashing across. Some thought it was tacky, others called it drip— it was just another one of the controversial decisions he made up until the fight. When entering the ring, he immediately disrespected Woodley by not touching gloves with him. Then, the fight began.
Boxing matches are usually a hit or miss for entertainment. In this case, it was a miss. During the first couple rounds, Paul and Woodley circled each other, feeling out their opponent, barely landing any punches. It was almost antagonizing watching Paul just bounce around the ring, towering over Woodley by four inches and hardly hitting his opponent.
Paul finally woke up in round three, hitting Woodley with an uppercut and a hook, as well as a body shot. Round four included a huge blow for Paul when Woodley landed a big right hand. He quite literally looked rocked. By the sixth round, both fighters looked exhausted and seemed to lean on each other for support when they got too close.
The match seemed to end for Woodley by round seven when Paul’s big right hand struck Woodley’s body and sweat flew off his face. Woodley tried to recover in the last round, but his punches were not enough to come back from the damage Paul already caused.
Paul won the match with a split decision (77-75, 75-77, 78-74) — this wasn’t surprising to anybody in the room. The split decision was due to two of the three judges scoring one particular competitor as the winner, while the third judge scores for the other competitor. In this case, one of the judges chose Woodley as the winner, while the other two deemed Jake victor.
The spectacle ended with Woodley embarrassing himself by trash-talking Paul after he lost in front of the audience, prompting Paul to get on the mic and agree to a rematch if Woodley got an “I love Jake Paul” tattoo. To be honest, watching Jake Paul fight these has-beens and call himself a professional boxer is cringeworthy. If Paul really wants to give the fans what they want and prove his title, he needs to fight a boxer his age. Until then, these matches seem more like a publicity stunt.
Edited by Shannon Worley | sworley@themaneater.com
