The referee brought the fighters together near the top of the fourth round to remind them that, in his words, fans ain’t pay to see this crap. Once Joshua knocked off a few of the ring rust from a 15-month layoff and Jake Paul decided to try to fight, the fight played out as most expected it might.
After a fight like this, more questions arise than answers. Why would Jake Paul take this fight? Perhaps Paul was delusional enough to think that beating a 58-year-old Mike Tyson made him the brand new Baddest Man on the Planet. Possibly after pivoting from his cancelled fight against Gervonta Davis, Paul saw this as a chance for the last word cash-out fight. In fact, attempting to psychoanalyze Jake Paul is a idiot’s errand, so it is difficult to know.
As Mark Krieger outlined, it was a disgrace that this fight got sanctioned by the Florida State Athletic Commission in any respect. While Jake Paul could also be a multi-hyphenate in the fashionable sense of the word, 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 fight was on every level, who would have thought that Jake Paul may very well be competitive? Well, 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 fight in Miami, Florida. People can do whatever they need with their money, but figuratively setting it on fire can’t be the most effective move.
Jake Paul is the ethos of this generation. Brash, self-made, guided by clicks and money. People love him, and folks hate him. His persona is analogous to Floyd Mayweather Jr. after he turned heel, to borrow an expert wrestling term, and morphed from being “Pretty Boy” Floyd to “Money” Mayweather.
Mayweather very successfully exploited boxing’s financial structure to make as much money as he possibly could, very like Jake Paul is doing. To be clear, there may be nothing improper with that; while it rubs people the improper way, that feeds into people listening to your fights. The difference is that Floyd Mayweather Jr. is just not only a supremely gifted athlete, but he trained his entire life to be a boxer.
When Jake Paul took on other social media influencers, Nate Robinson, and washed-up MMA fighters, it was a sideshow act. Which is fantastic, individuals are entitled to eat whatever content they need.
Much like circuses, the peak of boxing’s popularity occurred a couple of century ago. In the current day, with social media and dwindling attention spans, Jake Paul taking these fights was an excellent thing for boxing. If you happen to get people to take a look at the sideshow, they may be fascinated by the larger acts.
One way or the other, we got from there to here, with Jake Paul selecting to attempt to tame a lion and tackle Anthony Joshua. Snake charming is entertaining, however it doesn’t prepare you to grow to be a lion tamer. You’ll be able to talk an enormous game and proclaim that you’re going to pull off a Biblical-level upset, but once the bell rings, all of that talk goes out the window. People call the boxing ring a chamber of truth because when two competitors square off, people 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 super featherweight bout was completely one-sided, with Harvey scoring a knockdown in round 1 and dominating from there. Harvey landed 185 punches to 37 for Cervantes. Thankfully, it was only a six-round bout.
The subsequent bout was 50-year-old Anderson Silva taking over 43-year-old Tyron Woodley. Throughout the preflight introductions, Woodley looked like he was wondering why he had agreed to this bout on three weeks’ notice. These two never fought in MMA, which might have no less than made sense, but here they were going through the motions. Apart from being out of their element, the opposite thing these two had in common was losing to Jake Paul. Silva scored a TKO at 1:33 within the second round after landing a right uppercut through the nonexistent guard of Woodley.
After the fight, Silva called out former UFC foe Chris Weidman for a boxing match. Woodley just desired to fight someone with a full training camp to organize for it, which is comprehensible.
The last fight before the predominant event was Alycia Baumgardner defending her unified super featherweight championship against Leila Beaudoin. This fight was the one matchup on the televised card that was a full-length fight, with each women agreeing to fight twelve three-minute rounds. Baumgardner slowly broke Beaudoin down, first mentally after which physically. The champion scored a knockdown at 2:59 of round seven. Beaudoin looked like she wouldn’t make all of it twelve rounds, but she hung in there and showed some heart within the last two rounds. Two judges scored the fight 117-110, and the opposite scored it 118-109 for Baumgardner.
In the brand new yr, Anthony Joshua seems poised to finally fight Tyson Fury in a British superfight that has been bandied about for nearly a decade. As for Jake Paul, possibly he should pick up a brand new hobby. Why not skateboarding?
