The latest instalment of YouTube boxing finally saw a YouTuber fighting an active, professional boxer. It has taken Jake Paul seven attempts to fight a professional boxer, which is a magnificent feat for someone who aims to become a world champion.
Jake Paul certainly stood a chance against Tommy Fury. They are both novice professionals but what Fury does have in his favor is years more experience. This includes the gym, his fighting family and the fact that he has faced a professional before. So irrespective of whether he was fighting a journeyman, he still has significantly more experience.
The build-up
In the build-up to the fight, Jake Paul was considered a favorite with boxing online sportsbooks companies. This was surprising to see – perhaps many bets had come in from casual fans who didn’t understand that he was essentially making his professional debut.
Jake Paul has beaten respected UFC fighters – the only issue is that UFC fighters aren’t known for their boxing ability. The reason it’s called Mixed Martial Arts is because they master other forms of combat. Even so, his power helped him in fights against seasoned UFC veterans such as Tyron Woodley, who he convincingly knocked out.
Fury comes from a pure fighting heritage. His family boasts several professional or ex-professional fighters, including the current world heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury.
Although Fury comes from such a ferocious bloodline, he was largely untested and this is what Jake Paul’s team would have been banking on. Tommy didn’t look great against Anthony Taylor, and this is something that Paul’s team would have hoped to have acted as a precursor to a victory for Paul.
The big fight
As we have already touched on, the bookmakers had Paul going in as a favorite. For boxing purists, this was a slap in the face. Even though Fury is a novice and much younger, surely he still had enough to defeat the American YouTuber?
Tommy used his jab well in the first two rounds. After that, however, it was evident how much of a leap up this was for Jake.
To be fair to Jake, he deserves to call himself a professional. He got back into the fight in the middle rounds and landed some good shots. He even appeared to have Tommy wobbled at one point, and a contentious knockdown was ruled in Paul’s favor.
Ultimately, this made the fight a lot closer than expected. Fury boxed well and deserved to win the battle. You could see glimpses of why Paul considered he could cause an upset. He is at the level of a good novice boxer and appears to be much better than previous opponents Fury has faced.
Did Jake Paul ever stand a chance against Tommy Fury?
Of course he did. You only had to look at the odds that had him as favorite. Bookies aren’t in the business of losing money and won’t put somebody who has no chance up as their favorite. If the judges had seen it differently, this fight could have gone to Jake on a razor-thin decision.
This would have been controversial, but it wouldn’t have been any different to some of the outcomes we have witnessed at this sport’s highest level.
Conclusion
Paul had a better chance against Fury than many fighters in world title fights. But, unfortunately, horrible mismatches are commonplace in boxing – far more than they should be.
The rematch will be a close one to call, too. You have to give Fury the edge, but Paul could easily come back with a new game plan. He has spoken of injuries beforehand, and if he can rectify this and ensure he’s coming in firing on all cylinders, that could make the difference in setting up a huge trilogy.
Given each fighter’s earnings, they will be keen to return to the ring. Fury could make it to the world level and not even come close to the purse he earned for this huge fight.
This was a fight that grabbed the casual observer’s attention for the first time since the Mayweather vs McGregor fight in 2017. It could just be curiosity that drove such high PPV sales, but who knows if a rematch would attract the same numbers?
Jake Paul always stood a chance against Fury as they are both at similar stages in their careers. We feel, though, that Jake will be happy that Carl Froch wasn’t standing in the opposite corner when the bell rang.