Hate him or love him, but Jake Paul certainly puts butts in seats for his boxing matches.
On Sunday night, the YouTube sensation-turned-prizefighter outpointed Tyron Woodley via split decision (77-75, 75-77, 78-74) in the main event of a boxing card at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.
Woodley is a former UFC welterweight champion who managed to wobble Paul with a big right hand in the fourth round, but Paul was able to survive that round and beat Woodley over the rest of the bout.
Not everybody was impressed with the fight, in fact, Nate Diaz disliked both of them.
“These guys both suck,” Diaz said.
“I learned a lot tonight,” Paul said in his postfight news conference. “First time going back past four minutes. First time in an eight-round fight. … To be honest, I won convincingly. We’re gonna go back to the drawing board. I think I proved a lot tonight and proved a lot of people wrong.”
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After the fight, Paul and Woodley agreed to a rematch if Woodley gets an “I love Jake Paul” tattoo.
“I didn’t hit the ground like his other opponents,” Woodley said. “I walked him down and gave it back. Let’s run it back.”
Paul outlanded Woodley 71-52 in total punches, per CompuBox. But Woodley actually landed more power punches, 41-35. Paul landed more jabs at 36-11.
“I thought I won, to be honest,” Woodley said. “I was surprised it was a split decision. I thought it was close. … My demeanor and my emotion is because I wanted to knock him out. I had a couple big shots I landed, a couple opportunities and I think I had him hurt and I had him tired a couple times and I didn’t press him. I should have pressed him a little more.”
There is no dount that a second fight will go down, and just like the first one, expect whatever arena to be packed with fans and celebrities.
