The referee introduced the fighters collectively close to the top of the fourth spherical to remind them that, in his phrases, followers ain’t pay to see this crap. As soon as Joshua knocked off a few of the ring rust from a 15-month layoff and Jake Paul determined to attempt to struggle, the struggle performed out as most anticipated it could.
After a struggle like this, extra questions come up than solutions. Why would Jake Paul take this struggle? Maybe Paul was delusional sufficient to suppose that beating a 58-year-old Mike Tyson made him the brand new Baddest Man on the Planet. Perhaps after pivoting from his cancelled struggle towards Gervonta Davis, Paul noticed this as a chance for the final word cash-out struggle. After all, attempting to psychoanalyze Jake Paul is a idiot’s errand, so it’s laborious to know.
As Mark Krieger outlined, it was a shame that this struggle obtained sanctioned by the Florida State Athletic Fee in any respect. Whereas Jake Paul could also be a multi-hyphenate within the trendy sense of the phrase, Anthony Joshua is a boxer, and a rattling good one. Joshua is an Olympic gold medalist and a two-time former world heavyweight champion. Even nearing the top of his profession on the age of 36, Joshua is greater than formidable.
Given how absurd this struggle was on each stage, who would have thought that Jake Paul could possibly be aggressive? Nicely, as of Friday afternoon, Paul, a 7-1 underdog, had attracted 82% of the bets and 90% of the cash that had been wagered at DraftKings on the winner of Friday’s sanctioned struggle in Miami, Florida. Folks can do no matter they need with their cash, however figuratively setting it on hearth can’t be the perfect transfer.
Jake Paul is the ethos of this era. Brash, self-made, guided by clicks and money. Folks love him, and folks hate him. His persona is much like Floyd Mayweather Jr. after he turned heel, to borrow an expert wrestling time period, and morphed from being “Fairly Boy” Floyd to “Cash” Mayweather.
Mayweather very efficiently exploited boxing’s monetary construction to make as a lot cash as he presumably might, very similar to Jake Paul is doing. To be clear, there’s nothing unsuitable with that; whereas it rubs folks the unsuitable method, that feeds into folks being attentive to your fights. The distinction is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is just not solely a supremely gifted athlete, however he educated his total life to be a boxer.
When Jake Paul took on different social media influencers, Nate Robinson, and washed-up MMA fighters, it was a sideshow act. Which is okay, individuals are entitled to devour no matter content material they need.
Much like circuses, the peak of boxing’s recognition occurred a couple of century in the past. Within the current day, with social media and dwindling consideration spans, Jake Paul taking these fights was factor for boxing. For those who get folks to have a look at the sideshow, they may be within the greater acts.
Someway, we obtained from there to right here, with Jake Paul selecting to attempt to tame a lion and tackle Anthony Joshua. Snake charming is entertaining, nevertheless it doesn’t put together you to develop into a lion tamer. You’ll be able to discuss a giant recreation and proclaim that you’ll pull off a Biblical-level upset, however as soon as the bell rings, all of that discuss goes out the window. Folks name the boxing ring a chamber of reality as a result of when two opponents sq. off, folks can see with their very own eyes what’s what. No filters, no frills. Because the saying goes, you don’t play boxing.
Jahmal Harvey vs. Kevin Cervantes was the opening bout on Netflix. This tremendous featherweight bout was fully one-sided, with Harvey scoring a knockdown in spherical 1 and dominating from there. Harvey landed 185 punches to 37 for Cervantes. Fortunately, it was solely a six-round bout.
The following bout was 50-year-old Anderson Silva taking over 43-year-old Tyron Woodley. Throughout the preflight introductions, Woodley regarded like he was questioning why he had agreed to this bout on three weeks’ discover. These two by no means fought in MMA, which might have not less than made sense, however right here they had been going by means of the motions. Aside from being out of their ingredient, the opposite factor these two had in frequent was dropping to Jake Paul. Silva scored a TKO at 1:33 within the second spherical after touchdown a proper uppercut by means of the nonexistent guard of Woodley.
After the struggle, Silva referred to as out former UFC foe Chris Weidman for a boxing match. Woodley simply wished to struggle somebody with a full coaching camp to organize for it, which is comprehensible.
The final struggle earlier than the principle occasion was Alycia Baumgardner defending her unified tremendous featherweight championship towards Leila Beaudoin. This struggle was the one matchup on the televised card that was a full-length struggle, with each girls agreeing to struggle twelve three-minute rounds. Baumgardner slowly broke Beaudoin down, first mentally after which bodily. The champion scored a knockdown at 2:59 of spherical seven. Beaudoin regarded like she wouldn’t make all of it twelve rounds, however she hung in there and confirmed some coronary heart within the final two rounds. Two judges scored the struggle 117-110, and the opposite scored it 118-109 for Baumgardner.
Within the new 12 months, Anthony Joshua appears poised to lastly struggle Tyson Fury in a British superfight that has been bandied about for practically a decade. As for Jake Paul, possibly he ought to choose up a brand new interest. Why not skateboarding?
