The strange sporting merit of Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley 2

There are some fans of boxing and mixed martial arts who would derive no greater warmth this festive season than from seeing Jake Paul drifting in his own winter wonderland, unconscious on the canvas courtesy of a right hand from Tyron Woodley.

Paul, still just 24 years old, has already amassed greater wealth and notoriety than most could dream of obtaining in an entire lifetime, the controversial YouTuber’s divisiveness making him the perfect personality to cross over into professional boxing.

Most wish to see the brash American humbled each time he steps in the ring, although there are some who support his central role in this era of celebrity boxing and the effect it is having on the sport in general – potentially forcing a flawed institution to adapt for a new audience or risk dying out.

Paul, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, has been able to construct numerous carnivalesque events, headlining them while drawing millions of eyes to him and his opponents, who have so far earned drastically more than the average pro would across years of bouts – let alone a single contest.

It has been through his genuine commitment to training and his advocacy for fairer fighter pay, not only in boxing but also in the UFC in particular, that Paul has begun to win over some sceptics, morphing from pantomime villain into unlikely anti-hero while moving to 4-0 as a pro.

The 24-year-old’s first three fights all ended via knockout, with the vlogger stopping fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and ex-NBA star Nate Robinson last year, before finishing former MMA champion Ben Askren emphatically this spring.

There was a shallow but steady arc to the level of Paul’s opponents across those fights, with each foe possessing greater sporting merit than his predecessor, building towards the internet sensation’s in-ring encounter with Tyron Woodley in August.

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Woodley, a former welterweight champion in the UFC, represented Paul’s sternest test to date. No natural boxer – indeed, he was making his pro debut in the sport – the Missourian is nevertheless a world-class combat sports athlete with much greater striking skills than his close friend Askren.

Of course, there are asterisks within Woodley’s skillset and profile that Paul always seeks in opponents. In Woodley’s case, they were the fact that his MMA game leans much more heavily on elite wrestling than striking – though he does boast a powerful right overhand – his relatively advanced age within the sport (39), and his lack of recent form (four straight defeats saw Woodley drop the welterweight title and drop down the rankings before being released by the UFC this year).

In August, Paul was able to survive a mid-fight scare after being caught by Woodley’s famed overhand right, going on to beat his opponent via split decision over eight rounds. Although some observers gave Paul credit for the result and his performance, the calls for him to fight an actual professional boxer only grew in volume and frequency.

Paul obliged, setting up a clash with Tommy Fury for 18 December, though one of the afore-mentioned asterisks still applied. In Fury’s case, it was the fact that his profile has predominantly been built upon his connection to half-brother and heavyweight boxing champion Tyson, and his time as a contestant on reality TV show Love Island, rather than on his in-ring capabilities.

Nevertheless, Fury is 7-0 as a pro and represented the natural next step in opposition for Paul.

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Yet there was an inherent issue in those plentiful and preaching calls for Paul to fight ‘an actual boxer’.

Those calls largely came from detractors wishing to see Paul beaten and brushed under boxing’s carpet, but watching the outspoken American’s pugilistic path come unpaved against a superior fighter would surely only supply short satisfaction.

That is not to say Fury is a more capable boxer than Paul. It is also not to say he isn’t. Fury boasts pedigree but that does not always count for much. What counts for more is the collective record of Fury’s opponents prior to their contests with him; in fact, you’d have to count to 175 to cover all of their relevant defeats. The 22-year-old’s first opponent alone had suffered 110 losses before fighting the Brighton, while Fury’s beaten foes had a combined record of 14-175-5 before facing him.

Fury’s admittedly impressive muscles might have been sculpted through lifting iron, but his boxing record has been acquired by crushing tin. As with many components of the reality TV star’s career, his boxing venture has been designed to make him look good.

AnEsonGib was 0-0 before fighting Paul, as was Robinson, and Askren, and Woodley. Paul has been picking opponents carefully, intelligently even, but not unfairly.

The American is out to have fun, test himself, and collect pay cheques that contain a dizzying number of zeroes.

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Woodley was an appropriate opponent in August, and he remains so now. Yes, he has already been beaten by Paul, but he will also feel he has a very visible and navigable path to victory, having literally had Paul on the ropes – and almost through them – in their first fight.

If you still want to see Paul fall, if you’d find sincere Schadenfreude in any failure of his, then at the very least these paragraphs might have convinced you to seize those sensations this weekend. For surely it would be best to have them exorcised in time for Christmas and to never think upon the YouTuber again.

The alternative is seeing Paul pummelled by some impregnable opponent down the line, but there would be no sporting merit in that.

And, whether you believe it or not, Paul and his fights really do hold a strange sporting merit.