Jake Paul v Tommy Fury: Briton wins grudge match by cut up choice

Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul by cut up choice in arguably essentially the most anticipated contest between two novices in boxing historical past.

The former Love Island star, brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, was knocked down by YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul within the eighth spherical.

One choose scored it 75-74 to Paul, with the opposite two scoring it 76-73 to Fury.

“For the past two years this is all that has consumed my life,” an emotional Fury, who has now received all 9 of his skilled bouts, mentioned on BT Sport.

“Everybody thought I was running scared but tonight I made my own legacy.”

After dedicating the combat to his new-born child daughter Bambi, Fury added: “This is my first main event, I am going to get bigger and better and if he wants a rematch, bring it on.”

Paul – who misplaced for the primary time in his seventh skilled combat – mentioned: “All respect to Tommy, he won. Don’t judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses.

“I do not know if I agree with the judges, it’s what it’s however that’s the boxing world.”

Build-up and environment in Saudi Arabia

Several stars from the world of sport and entertainment were in attendance and many more were following the eight-round bout from home.

Boxing legend Mike Tyson and footballer Cristiano Ronaldo were among those present in the open-top Diriyah Arena in Riyadh.

Popstar Drake shared a screenshot of his $400,000 (£335,000) bet on a Paul KO win, while Home Alone actor Macaulay Culkin tweeted: “There’s no higher strategy to rejoice your half birthday than to observe Jake Paul get punched within the head repeatedly.”

The main event was given the full big-fight treatment, with legendary Master of Ceremonies Michael Buffer introducing both fighters.

Fury, dressed in white with the name of his new-born daughter etched across his robe, walked first to the ring along with trainer and dad John Fury and brother Tyson.

But with Fury waiting patiently, ‘The Problem Child’ Paul was still pacing up and down in his dressing room as the mind games continued. When Paul did make his entrance, a chorus of boos echoed around the venue.

Unusually, the fight took place on a Sunday night and while both Paul and Fury boast a huge social media following among younger fans, the first bell did not ring until 22:30 GMT (01:30 local time) – almost an hour later than scheduled.

The fight was the latest lucrative sporting event to take place in Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom has spent billions to bring elite sport to its country but critics, such as human rights organisation Amnesty International, have accused Saudi Arabia of trying to ‘sportswash’ away the country’s “abysmal” human rights report.

How did the combat play out?

After all the hype and expectation, it was a scrappy opening minute of the fight. Fury landed a couple of solid jabs and ended the round with the first meaningful punch, a left hook.

Fury settled well into the second, rocking Paul’s head back with a sharp jab – and even showboated by twirling his hand then landing a flush punch.

With Paul eyeing up the single power shots, he glanced Fury’s forehead with an overhand right but missed wildly on other occasions.

Paul started to use his jab and found success in the third. Then, somewhat bizarrely, Paul’s brother Logan was interviewed ringside and with everyone in the arena able to hear, he insulted Fury and his family.

The combat had already divided opinion in the boxing world and this between-round episode will likely have further cemented the thoughts of traditionalists who feel it is making a mockery of the sport.

The comments seemed to spur Fury on as he connected with a short right hand and followed it with a flurry of punches from range in the fourth, although Paul ended the round well, landing cleaner blows.

Paul had the best of the fifth round but was deducted a point for a punch to the back of the head. Fury landed terrific uppercuts in the sixth, but then he was also deducted a point for holding. Neither fighter was warned by the referee beforehand.

The fighters were visibly tired in the seventh, the first time in Fury’s career he had gone that deep into a fight. But it was the Briton who edged the round through his work-rate.

In a frantic final round, with both boxers looking to land the telling blow, Fury hit the deck from a Paul jab. He looked more startled than hurt and insisted to the referee it was a slip.

‘It was my future’

The WBC had said the winner will now get a top-40 ranking with the sanctioning body which, in theory, could pave the way for a future world-title shot.

It was a move that irked many hardcore boxing fans, who feel there are more deserving fighters who should be given a ranking.

In his short career so far, Paul has boldly – and to the annoyance of those fans – called out the best boxing has to offer.

He has mentioned the likes of Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, one of the top pound-for-pound stars, and, more recently, former British world champion Carl Froch.

But he has suffered a loss in his first fight against an opponent with a boxing background. He had previously faced YouTuber AnEson Gib, ex-NBA basketball player Nate Robinson and MMA fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva.

“I’ve received in each single means already in life,” he said. “I’ve made it additional than I ever thought. I’ll take it on the chin however we will run it again.”

Prior to the fight, Fury was told by his dad and brother he would be disowned if he lost.

“All the best way by means of, I had a dream and a imaginative and prescient that I’d win this combat however now everybody can arise and take be aware,” the winner mentioned.

“I had stress on my shoulders and I got here by means of. This to me is a world-title combat – it was my future.”

‘They’re bringing eyeballs to the game’

Boxing pundit Steve Bunce on BBC Breakfast

It was entertaining, the hype lived up to itself, and it was actually sport.

It wasn’t a masterpiece, but there was a lot of heart and guts. What we ask for in boxing is that the two men or women in the ring give us everything they’ve got and these two did. It wasn’t a great boxing match, but it was a great event.

They’re bringing eyeballs to the game.

If Jake Paul can reach 200m people with one tweet and get it retweeted 10m times in about five minutes no matter what time he sends the tweet, then if millions and millions of new eyeballs are watching the sport, they’re not all going to disappear when the boxing finishes.

So how is 250,000 potentially new fans going to hurt any sport, whether it’s tiddly winks or boxing? It has to be positive.