Joshua did miss a startling amount of shots, any one of which would have likely ended the match then and there. But towards the end, when fatigued Paul basically just stood there, his mug wide open for a hit, and Joshua didn’t manage to finish it then and there, I just shook my head, not knowing what to think of it.
I saw a maxillofacial surgeon saying he thinks Jake Paul’s boxing career is over. Looking at the x-ray he posted the doctor believes the permanent hardware Paul is going to need will keep him from getting approved by any state’s athletic board.
This fight should never have been approved, and yet here we are.
If I may throw a little extra schadenfreude into this thread, on the same night as Joshua cleaned Paul’s clock, noted right-wing influencer and human trafficker Andrew Tate also made his boxing debut at a match in Dubai… and got his ass beat by a redneck from Eatonville, WA best known for appearing on a British reality show inspired by the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and the gang compete to see who can go the longest without touching themselves.
I’ve lived in Washington State most of my life, and I had to look up where this place was.
It’s one of those tiny towns on the way to Mt. Rainier.
So in other words, what you’re saying is…
It was a PR stunt against a known hopeless opponent with a foregone scripted conclusion. That’s what to think of it.
No different than a bout on WWE. With almost as much macho posturing.
Were they fighting for real? Yep. Was Joshua cat-and-mousing to stretch it out as long as they (promoters plus sponsors) needed? Yep.
It takes a certain bravery to sign up to get your ass beat. But the paycheck was pretty darn nice too.
Definitely. A first round knock-out, which I think he could have achieved, would have been too quick for Netflix. Netflix is going to get a terrible sports reputation if they can’t put on proper events.
I wonder if Tyson could have knocked him out as well, but agreed to stand there and lose.
So… performative “alpha” machismo does not shield against faster, stronger kinetic attack IRL. Who knew.
(Sad part is a lot of the Tate followers will just say “f*** yeah, a Real Man™ is not afraid to get his ass whipped!” and keep admiring him.)
Why not? If both fighters pass the physical requirements to fight why wouldn’t it be allowed? It’s not up to the boxing commission to might a judgement about the chances of victory
There come arguments about making a mockery out of the sport, or the commission being concerned the weaker fighter is simply a hired punching bag with no real agency here; someone being railroaded by their trainer team.
But whether any given commission in any given state wants to take on those larger concepts of their duties is an interesting question I don’t know the answer to.
Because the sanctioning agency is supposed to do more than that.
Like it or not, Jake Paul is a professional boxer with a real boxing record. Should they disallow all fights that they think are guaranteed to go one way? If so all tune up fights would be banned
Is the international boxing sanctioning organization still a part of the Russian government, or have they gotten around to creating a new one yet?
The fight was sanctioned by the Florida Athletic Commission, who is probably free from most Russian control. It wasn’t a title bout, so the major boxing organizations (WBA, WBO, IBF, WBC) weren’t involved. I suppose it could affect Joshua’s ranking in some way, but he’s only in the top 3 on one of their lists (WBC).
I only know about Eatonville because about ten years ago, I was staying overnight in a hotel in Seattle, watching KING 5 at 1 AM, and The 206 (a sketch comedy show that was a short-lived spiritual successor to Almost Live!) did a sketch called “The Capitol Hillbillies” that was about a family of hicks from Eatonville striking it rich and moving to Seattle.
There’s a difference between throwing a fight and playing with your food.
Tyson was almost 60 and had just had a serious medical condition requiring multiple blood transfusions that had already postponed the fight. That doesn’t count the knee and back issues that has him shuffling around like the older, beat up man that he is.
He looked winded by the end of the first round. He wasn’t going to be competitive against anybody. If anybody was extending that fight, it was Paul. Tyson shouldn’t have been in that ring at all, but a payday is a payday.
It was great for viewer counts but a geriatric vs a literal internet wannabe was never going to be a top tier display of athletic prowess.
Now Jake Paul says (according to social media) that he had the flu on fight night, and that’s why it went the way it did.
Anyone for some month old warm milk?