Jake Paul’s first fight against a real boxer didn’t go as planned.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Tommy Fury handed the first loss of his career Sunday night at Diriyah Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury beat Paul by split decision in an eight-round match despite being knocked down in the final round.
Paul said after the fight that he did not agree with the judges’ decision, and that he had fallen ill twice in camp and injured his arm—remarks that drew boos from the crowd.
“But I lost,” Paul said. “I’m just saying it wasn’t my best performance. I fell flat.”
Fury seemed to have a slight advantage throughout most of the fight, but Paul was right in the mix and landed a lot of great punches on his own. Both fighters were deducted a point in the later rounds as well, apparently as they landed a punch to the back of each other’s head.
It was the eighth round, however, and Paul bounced back and made his move after a slow seventh. Paul came out early with a left-handed jab that tripped Fury backward and to the mat briefly – which marked the first and only knockdown of the match.
“It wasn’t a knockout,” Fury said, “it was a misstep.” “That was really a misstep. I got up… I went right back at him.”
Fury didn’t look too graduated for the knockdown and came out shooting to close the fight, landing several strikes of his own to maintain the advantage and seize the split decision win.
An emotional rage said in . “Now I can stand up and everyone can take notes. In my first main event, when I was 23, the world was so mad at me. I had pressure on my shoulders, and I made it through.”
Sunday’s fight was Paul’s biggest fight yet. Until his encounter with Fury, Paul had only faced another MMA fighter, YouTuber, and former NBA player in the ring. His latest win came in October after he beat 47-year-old former MMA star Anderson Silva.
While Fury is as true a boxer as Paul has come across in his career, he doesn’t do much. Fury, the half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has an 8-0 record with four knockouts heading into Sunday’s fight, which looks impressive on the face of it. However, his eight opponents hold a combined overall record of 24-176-5 – which isn’t great.
One of Paul’s biggest criticisms is that he has never fought a real boxer. While Fury is close to that, it still isn’t as cool as the two attempted to be in the run-up to Sunday’s fight.
But in the end, it didn’t matter anymore. Paul lost against the best fighter he has seen so far in his career.
If Paul wants to restart it, Fury is ready.
“If he wants a rematch, he can have a rematch,” Fury said.
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