Jake Paul withstood a fourth round scare to beat Tyron Woodley by split decision and remain undefeated in Ohio on Sunday night.
Paul (4-0, 3 KOs), was rocked for the first time in his career by ex-UFC welterweight champion, Woodley (0-1) who sent him staggering through the ropes with a powerful right hand.
However, the YouTube star-turned boxer weathered the storm to secure his fourth professional victory.
Woodley, who had spent time training with Floyd Mayweather Jr in the build-up strolled to the ring at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse wearing headphones for his debut in professional boxing, whilst his rival lapped in his home support whilst sporting shorts with LED’s attached to them.
In what was a cagey opening, ’The Problem Child’ had the better of the action landing a solid right hand to the body and remained the busier of the pair.
Paul, who stopped Ben Askren inside the first round in April after previous victories against AnEsonGib and Nate Robinson, was displaying improved skill, leading with his jab and boxing on the outside with Woodley unable to pin him down.
The 24-year-old had time to showboat to the crowd, dismissing the threat of his opponent and landed a three-punch combination to ensure the round went his way.
Woodley was not busy enough and Paul appeared comfortable at the end of the third, despite the Missouri man having some success at the bell.
However, Paul found himself in the biggest crisis of his career in the next round.
😱😱😱#PaulWoodley 👉 https://t.co/xQEvPoOUit pic.twitter.com/yNdfS7fb1d
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) August 30, 2021
Woodley connected with a fierce right hand, which stumbled Paul into the ropes and the Ohio man bounced back off them and retreated on the back foot.
The momentum had shifted in favour of the 39-year-old with the home favourite appearing to tire as Woodley landed further blows in the fifth.
But, in truth Woodley was never really able to capitalise on his moment, appearing reluctant to engage when Paul was quite clearly hurt.
Paul had recovered by rounds six and seven, which seemed to go his way with his workrate considerably higher than his rival.
Woodley had a much better final round and Paul was in unfamiliar territory going the distance for the first time in his career.
A split decision was announced with a 77-75 scorecard in favour of Woodley, cancelled out by scores of 77-75 and 78-74 going to Paul.
🇺🇸 @jakepaul (4-0, 3 KOs)
🥊 8 rounds in the bank for Jake Paul and a fourth professional win! ✅
🤔 Who should Paul face next❓#Boxing #PaulWoodley #JakePaul pic.twitter.com/BHo1zP5JKu
— Pro Boxing Fans (@ProBoxingFans) August 30, 2021
“It was a tougher fight than I expected,” Paul told SHOWTIME post-fight.
“My legs felt weird. All respect to Tyron. I have nothing but respect for him.”
View this post on Instagram
Woodley called for a rematch which Paul responded by saying he would only consider if he honoured their pre-fight agreement of the loser of the fight getting a tattoo of the victor’s name.
Paul said he would take a break from the sport, before deciding if fights against the likes of Tommy Fury were on the table.
who’s next? pic.twitter.com/X30W3ufa33
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) August 30, 2021
Dubois blows away Cusumano
Daniel Dubois made an emphatic statement on his US debut, dropping Joe Cusumano three times on route to a devastating first round win.
After an early exchange, Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs) knocked down his foe who just beat the referee’s ten count with a second remaining.
To his credit, Cusumano (19-4, 17 KOs), who had not been stopped prior to tonight, remained determined despite being heavily outmatched and his bravery was to his detriment.
Daniel Dubois gets the first round KO 🧨
(via @ShowtimeBoxing)pic.twitter.com/SOZrZNJuw4
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 30, 2021
After landing some decent shots of his own, the 33-year-old was sent crashing to the canvas with another combination, just beating the count again.
View this post on Instagram
‘Dynamite’ searched for the finish and it duly came. A three-punch combination felled the American and this time his brave resistance was broken with the referee jumping in to spar jubilant scenes inside the arena.
The 23-year-old Londoner called for a showdown with WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight world champion, Trevor Bryan post-fight, a bout promoter Frank Warren said the WBA would order given Dubois’ #1 ranking in the governing body.
Fury claims UD over Taylor, calls for Paul showdown
Tommy Fury called for a showdown with Jake Paul after easing past Anthony Taylor on his US debut.
Fury (7-0, 4 KOs) dominated throughout the four rounds, but was unable to secure the emphatic knockout statement he desired, with Taylor (0-2) making it through to the final bell.
‘TNT’ used his height and size advantage to great effect from the opening bell, leading off a piercing jab and landing to the body of the American.
Former MMA fighter, Taylor was finding it difficult to get inside of Fury, who was teeing off with solid combinations in the second round.
The Brit stepped on the gas looking to finish proceedings in the third, but to no avail and his rival fell to the canvas through a slip.
Fury was comfortably ahead by the start of the fourth round and landed further accurate blows, although Taylor also landed a hook of his own in a round which saw plenty of clinching.
View this post on Instagram
The 22-year-old was declared the winner by unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the bout 40-36.
“Looking at that Jake Paul you should have an easy night,” Fury told BT Sport post-fight.
OH. MY! 😮
“You need to stop running my friend!”
“Take the fight!”@tommytntfury and @jakepaul finally came face-to-face backstage and it was absolute chaos! 👀 pic.twitter.com/1398ZTZzMZ
— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) August 30, 2021
“There’s no excuses, no running, no hiding. I want you next you bum. Let’s get it on.”
Serrano dominates Mercado
Amanda Serrano dominated Yamileth Mercado to retain her unified featherweight world titles by unanimous decision.
The seven-weight world champion displayed her class throughout, targeting the body of the Mexican with regularity.
Mercado (18-3, 5 KOs), who moved up a weight class where she is the WBC super bantamweight champion, was swinging away without being able to put a real dent in the Puerto Rican.
Serrano (41-1-1, 30 KOs), who has been linked with a future, rescheduled clash with Katie Taylor, was continuing to land vicious blows in the latter stages, opening a gruesome cut on Mercado’s face.
The 23-year-old took further punishment in the final round and was perhaps too brave for her own good, losing comfortably on the scorecards at 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93.
Love overcomes Baranchyk
Montana Love secured the biggest win of his career with former world champion Ivan Baranchyk retired by his corner at the end of the seventh round.
In what was a genuine clash of styles, Love (16-0-1, 8 KOs) used his silky skills and fleet of foot to evade the attacks of Baranchyk (20-3, 13 KOs) early on and made him miss wildly.
However, Baranchyk coming off the 2020 Ring Magazine fight of the year against Jose Zepeda, found his man in the third round, staggering him back to the ropes on two occasions.
The clash was ebbing and flowing, but Love found the crucial breakthrough in the seventh round, landing a left uppercut which dropped Baranchyk heavily to the canvas.
The 28-year-old made it to the end of the round, but his corner had seen enough, pulling out their man before the start of the eighth round to hand the 26-year-old victory in his hometown.
Conwell stops Rubio
In the opening bout, super welterweight, Charles Conwell (16-0, 12 KOs) extended his unbeaten record with a third round stoppage over Juan Carlos Rubio (18-1, 9 KOs).
With a third-round stoppage of Juan Carlos Rubio tonight in Cleveland, @CharlesConwell defeats his third unbeaten foe in his last four fights. #boxing #ConwellRubio #PaulWoodley @DiBellaEnt @SplitTBoxing @WBCBoxing @IBFUSBAboxing @ShowtimeBoxing pic.twitter.com/5ZKsuFzXug
— Lou DiBella (@loudibella) August 29, 2021
