YouTube celebrity Jake Paul defeats former UFC champ Tyron Woodley
Jake Paul beats Tyron Woodley by split decision in biggest victory of pro boxing career
Key points:
- Jake Paul had never before fought longer than two rounds in a professional fight
- Woodley said he did enough to with the fight and called for a rematch
- Paul said it was the second biggest pay per view fight of the year behind Logan Paul’s fight against Floyd Mayweather
Those hoping for Jake Paul’s boxing demise at the hands of a big puncher will be sorely disappointed.
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 Sunday night here at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Woodley is a former UFC welterweight champion with several highlight-reel knockouts on his MMA résumé.
Punch Stats
Punch Stats
| PUNCHES | PAUL | WOODLEY |
|---|---|---|
| Total landed | 71 | 52 |
| Total thrown | 207 | 163 |
| Percent | 34% | 32% |
| Jabs landed | 36 | 11 |
| Jabs thrown | 122 | 48 |
| Percent | 30% | 23% |
| Power landed | 35 | 41 |
| Power thrown | 85 | 115 |
| Percent | 41% | 36% |
| — Courtesy of CompuBox |
Paul has been a polarizing figure, leveraging his millions of social media followers into what he is hoping to be a legitimate boxing career. Woodley came in as the more experienced combat sports athlete, with 27 professional MMA fights over a 12-year career plus being a two-time Division I wrestling All-American at the University of Missouri. However, this was Woodley’s pro boxing debut.
“I learned a lot tonight,” Paul said in the post-fight press 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.”
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.”
Things cooled off only once Woodley, his family and team were escorted from the room.
Things boiled over again, Saturday, at the public weigh-ins at KeyBank State Theatre. Paul was being interviewed following the final stare-down while eating chicken fingers on stage. Woodley then walked over and reached out to give him packets of wet wipes, and Paul slapped them out of Woodley’s hands. He then shoved Woodley away and tried to reach for Woodley’s hat in an effort to duplicate his May “gotcha hat” stunt with Floyd Mayweather.
Woodley moved away and there was pushing and shoving with people on stage before things calmed down.
