Tommy Fury Beats Jake Paul by Split Decision in Saudi Arabia

Paul entered Sunday’s contest with a lopsided social media advantage — 22.7 million Instagram followers to Fury’s 4.7 million. But Fury, the half brother of Tyson Fury, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, had better boxing skills. He deployed a longer, sharper jab, landed the more authoritative power punches and used superior timing to achieve a split-decision win. Two judges scored the bout 76-73 for Tommy Fury, while a third favored Paul by 75-74.

“Tonight, I made my own legacy,” Fury said in the ring immediately after the fight. “I had the world on me. I had pressure on my shoulders, and I came through.”

Fury improved his record to 9-0, while Paul absorbed his first professional loss.

“This is definitely a humbling experience,” said Paul, now 6-1 with four knockouts. “I’ll take it on the chin.”

That an eight-round fight between fighters who entered with a combined 14 professional fights headlined a pay-per-view event that retailed for $49.99 highlights the power of Paul’s self-promotion and the development of his boxing franchise.

Since the late 2010s, Paul has trained full time as a boxer, with each win over a widely known part-timer generating buzz, along with the perception, stoked intentionally by Paul himself, that he could compete with world-class practitioners. He has called out the retired welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather, who pummeled Paul’s brother, Logan, in a 2021 exhibition; Paul has also suggested that he could defeat the super-middleweight champion Saúl Álvarez by 2024.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/26/sports/jake-paul-tommy-fury-fight-result.html