Social media star-turned-boxer Jake Paul finally answered the calls that he face a "real boxer" on Sunday, battling Tommy Fury in an eight-round cruiserweight fight. While Paul put up a solid fight, he came up short as Fury managed to escape with a split decision victory.
Fury came out far more aggressive than he had in past fights, bringing the fight right to Paul from the opening bell. That led quickly to the first clinch of the fight.
Those clinches would be a major part of the story of the bout, with both men grabbing to break up the rhythm of their opponent or to try to create a reset to get the fight back to distance. Unfortunately, the clinching was excessive enough that the referee began to play a bigger and bigger role as the fight wore on.
After multiple warnings, the referee took a point from Paul in the fifth round. Then, he deducted a point from Fury in the sixth. Ultimately, the point deductions evened out, but it created a strange tone to the second half of the fight.
Fury's jab was a big factor throughout the fight, constantly popping Paul in the face and keeping Paul from gaining the comfort to stay in range and unload the big overhand rights that had dropped many opponents before.
Paul continued to fire back and would go through his own strong stretches when he was able to slow down Fury's pace. But heading into Round 8, it appeared Fury would be up on the scorecards and that Paul needed to make something dramatic happen to flip the script.
Paul did deliver that dramatic moment with a perfectly timed left hand as Fury stepped forward, knocking Fury off balance just enough that he touched the canvas for a knockdown. Fury was not badly hurt by the shot and battled back to the final bell, but the addition of a 10-8 round in favor of Paul added a bit of extra drama in the moments before the official scorecards were read.
Despite the knockdown, Fury took the split decision by two cards of 76-73 in his direction with a lone dissenting card reading 75-74 for Paul.
"For the past two years, this is all that has consumed my life. Broken rib. Denied access. Everybody thought I was running scared. Tonight, I made my own legacy. I am Tommy Fury," Fury said after the fight. All through these past two years, I had a dream and a vision that I would win this fight. And no one believed me. Now I can stand up and everybody can take note. It's my first main event at 23 years old. I had pressure on my shoulders, and I came through."
Paul did enter the bout with a rematch clause in place should Fury manage to pull off what was a small upset in terms of betting odds. In the ring after the fight, Paul gave Fury credit but made it clear that he intended to exercise that clause.
"All respect to Tommy, he won," Paul said. "Don't judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses. We deserve that rematch. I don't know that I agree [with the scorecards]. I got a 10-8 round twice. ... So, this is definitely a humbling experience. I'll take it on the chin and we can run it back."
"100 percent. This is my first main event, I'm only going to go stronger, I'm gonna go bigger, and I'm only gonna go better," Fury said. "There was a lot of nerves coming in here, I override that. If he wants a rematch, bring it on."
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"This is my first main event. I'm only going to get stronger, and I'm only going to get bigger. There were a lot of nerves going into that fight, but I override that. If he wants a rematch, bring it on," Fury said.
The co-main event saw a new champion crowned in the cruiserweight division as Badou Jack scored a 12th-round TKO of Ilunga Junior Makabu. The victory secured Jack a world title in a third weight division as he previously held championships in the super middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. He has now won six straight fights dating back to 2020.
"I was standing there too much. My trainer told me to box and move," Jack said. "That's not really my style. I mean, I box. But I also like to come forward and fight. Makabu is a hell of a fighter. He's an African brother of mine. We used to be training partners. He is still my brother."
CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Sunday, providing updates and analysis throughout the event.
Fight card, results
- Tommy Fury def. Jake Paul via split decision (74-75, 76-73, 76-73)
- Badou Jack def. Ilunga Junior Makabu (c) via 12th-round TKO
- Ziyad Almaayouf def. Ronald Martinez via unanimous decision (38-37, 38-37, 38-37)
- Muhsin Cason def. Taryel Jafarov via first-round TKO (corner stoppage)
- Bader Samreen def. Viorel Simion via first-round knockout
Paul vs. Fury scorecard, live coverage
| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 74 |
| Fury | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 75 |