“CLEVELAND WHAT’S GOOD!”@jakepaul
put on for the land
#PaulWoodley pic.twitter.com/B9Hma4K3EN— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing)
August 30, 2021
For the first time in his burgeoning boxing career, Jake Paul
found himself in a real fight. He proved to be more than up to the
task.
The social-media-personality-turned-boxer went eight rounds with a
former UFC champion, capturing a split decision triumph against
Tyron
Woodley in the main event of a Showtime Sports card at Rocket
Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland on Sunday night. Judge Jaime
Garayua had it 77-75 and Dana DePaolo saw it 78-74 — both in favor
of Paul — while Phil Rogers submitted a 77-75 tally in favor of
Woodley.
“He’s a tough opponent. He’s been boxing, fighting, striking —
whatever you want to call it — for 20-something years,” Paul said
of Woodley. “I’ve been doing this for three years as of a couple
days ago. This was a tougher fight than I expected. My legs felt
weird since the locker room.
“All respect to Tyron. He’s a Hall of Famer. He put up a good
fight. He’s a good boxer, he came in shape. I have nothing but
respect [for] him. There was a lot of s—t talk back and forth. My
apologies to his team if anyone felt disrespected. There’s no hard
feelings.”
After dispatching his previous three opponents in short order, Paul
(3-0) adopted a disciplined approach against Woodley, as he
controlled the ring early on and worked well behind his jab while
also landing effective body-head combinations on occasion. Woodley,
meanwhile, faced the same struggles as he did in his UFC career in
that he struggled to match his opponent’s volume.
The momentum seemed to shift in the fourth round, when Woodley
connected with an overhand right that made Paul stumble into the
ropes. The gave the UFC veteran more confidence, and he walked Paul
down for the rest of the stanza. To his credit, Paul regained his
bearings and was able to land more offense down the stretch.
Woodley was unable to duplicate his fourth round magic and didn’t
put Paul in significant danger the rest of the way.
.@TWooodley
tags Paul in round 4
#PaulWoodley pic.twitter.com/8j9Gnh9jJD— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing)
August 30, 2021
According to statistics provided by CompuBox, Paul outlanded
Woodley by a 71-to-52 count in the fight, including a notable
36-to-11 advantage in jabs. Woodley was slightly better in power
punches, with a 41-to-35 edge.
“He hit me with one shot the whole fight. That was a good shot,”
Paul admitted. “He hit me with more shots, but I’m saying like a
real shot. I still got the victory. I got eight rounds under my
belt. All my previous opponents went one minute.”
Woodley (0-1) wasn’t satisfied with the final ruling, and he
demanded an immediate return date with Paul in his post-fight
interview.
“I feel like I won the fight. I feel like Jake’s a great opponent.
I didn’t expect him to go down. But the fact that one judge gave me
[only] two rounds is laughable,” Woodley said.
“Off the top I want an instant rematch. Nobody gonna sell a
pay-per-view like we did. I hit him, the ropes held him up. I
landed more power shots. When he threw the shots, they were hitting
my glove.”
In the co-main event, Amanda
Serrano cruised to a unanimous decision victory over Yamileth
Mercado to retain her WBO and WBC featherweight titles. The
32-year-old Puerto Rican received scorecards of 97-93, 98-92, 99-91
for her 27th consecutive victory.
Regarded as one of the top pound-for-pound female fighters in the
sport, Serrano controlled the ring throughout the 10-round affair.
“The Real Deal” stalked Mercado (18-3) while landing crisp punching
combinations to the head and body. The body work was especially
notable, as Serrano outlanded her opponent by a 65-to-13 count in
that category, according to CompuBox.
Serrano (41-1-1), who owns a 2-0-1 record in MMA with a pair of
appearances in Combate Americas, really picked up the intensity in
the final round, bloodying her opponent’s face with combinations
while hunting for the knockout. Nonetheless, Mercado was able to
hang tough until the final bell.
Elsewhere, Tommy Fury, the younger half-brother of heavyweight
champ Tyson Fury,
cruised to a forgettable unanimous verdict over Bellator MMA
veteran Anthony
Taylor in four-round cruiserweight bout. All three judges
scored the fight 40-36 in favor of the Englishman.
Bolstered by a significant size and reach advantage, Fury (7-0)
tagged Taylor (0-2) with uppercuts, right hands and periodic
punching combinations. “Pretty Boy’s” only response was attempt to
close the distance behind overhand rights before forcing the
clinch, but that approach proved to be largely unsuccessful. A
series of power shots from Fury appeared to slow Taylor toward the
end of Round 2, and “TNT” later stunned his adversary with a clean
left hook in Round 4.
After the victory, Fury called for a showdown with headliner
Jake
Paul, who used Taylor as a primary sparring partner ahead of
his matchup with Woodley.
Montana Love TKO’s Baranchyk!!!!!
(Baranchyk’s corner stopped the fight) pic.twitter.com/fR3PIHfTNo— (@FTBVids_YT)
August 30, 2021
In earlier action: Cleveland native Montana Love (16-0-1) dropped
Russia’s Ivan Baranchyk (20-3) with a counter left uppercut late in
the seventh round of their cruiserweight (140-pound) matchup, which
ultimately led to a technical knockout victory. Though Baranchyk
initially returned to his feet and wanted to continue, his corner
called the fight at the conclusion of the frame.
Boom goes the dynamite
Heavyweight to watch, @DynamiteDubois,
stuns with first-round KO in U.S. debut.#PaulWoodley
pic.twitter.com/xXeULpuQs1— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing)
August 30, 2021
Daniel Dubois (17-1) made short work of Joe Cusumano in a
heavyweight tilt, flooring his foe three times en route to a
technical knockout victory at the 2:10 mark of Round 1.