Jake Paul’s win over UFC great Tyron Woodley was marred by a judging controversy, with viewers left scratching their heads at the split decision ruling.
Paul, the YouTube star turned boxer, improved his professional record today to 4-0 with the biggest scalp of his career.
The 24-year-old kicked things off with a dominant round, in which he landed six punches from 21 attempts as Woodley struggled to keep up, attempting just six punches.
While Woodley stepped things up to become the aggressor during the third round before dominating Paul in the fourth, the former UFC star’s moments in the fight were all too fleeting.
Over the eight-round bout, Paul looked the better fighter, at least on total punches landed – Paul landed 71 punches from 217 thrown (33 per cent), while Woodley managed 52 from 163 swings (32 per cent).
Two of three judges scored in favour of Paul – 77-75 and 78-74 – while the other had Woodley, 77-75.
The three judges – Jaime Garayua, Phil Rogers and Dana DePaulo – agreed that rounds one and two went in favour of Paul, with round four going to Woodley.
The remaining rounds they all disagreed on.
Where fans were really left scratching their heads was how Rogers scored the last five rounds of the fight in favour of Woodley, which didn’t sit well with either fighter.
Paul said the split decision was “bull—t”, and questioned “what they (judges) were looking at.”
Meanwhile, Woodley said: “I feel like I won the fight.”
“The fact one judge gave me two rounds is laughable,” Woodley added.
However, the majority of fight fans appeared to agree with Paul as a number of high-profile US sporting figures took aim at the judges.
Led by veteran US media icons Skip Bayless and Chris Broussard, viewers flocked to social media to vent their frustrations at the split decision ruling.
https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/1432195310533574658https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard/status/1432197348889870339https://twitter.com/SIChrisMannix/status/1432195509230477312https://twitter.com/joshkatzowitz/status/1432195122431660036?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1432195122431660036%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-9372398503260316497.ampproject.net%2F2108132216000%2Fframe.htmlhttps://twitter.com/julianrouth/status/1432195233383653378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1432195233383653378%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-9372398503260316497.ampproject.net%2F2108132216000%2Fframe.html
