Jake Paul rocked by Tyron Woodley, but wins well-deserved split decision

Serrano dominates; Dubois and Love score knockouts

Jake Paul, the social media influencer, YouTube personality and novice cruiserweight boxer, was supposed to get the toughest test of his young career from Tyron Woodley, a former UFC champion known as a top-notch striker, and he indeed did.

But Paul passed the test, facing his first moments of adversity inside the ring en route to an eight-round split decision victory before an announced sold-out crowd of about 16,000 on Sunday night in a Showtime PPV main event at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Paul’s hometown.

Paul absorbed a powerful left hook in the fourth round and referee George Nichols could have called a knockdown because the ropes appeared to hold Paul up. But Paul weathered the brief storm and otherwise seemed to do more than enough to win, despite the split verdict.

“He’s a tough opponent. He’s been boxing, fighting, striking, whatever you want to call it for 20-something years,” Paul said. “I’ve been doing this for three years as of a couple of days ago. It was a tougher fight than I expected. My legs felt weird since in the locker room. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but he’s a tough opponent.

“All respect to Tyron. He’s a (UFC) Hall of Famer. He put up a good fight. He’s a good boxer. He came in shape. I have nothing but respect to him. There was a lot of shit talk back and forth. My apologies to his team if anyone felt disrespected. It’s no hard feelings, but this feels amazing to do this for my city. Bring it home. This is a dream come true. I want to cry but I’m a little tired.”

Two judges had it for Paul, 78-74 and 77-75, and one had it 77-75 for Woodley. Fight Freaks Unite had it 78-74 for Paul, who outworked Woodley throughout the fight and outlanded him in six of the eight rounds, according to CompuBox statistics.

Paul was surprised one judge had it for Woodley, which seemed to be a reach.

“Let’s be honest — that’s bullshit,” Paul said. “Come on, especially in my hometown? Where’s that judge (Phil Rogers) at? Come on. He hit me with one shot the whole fight. It was a good shot. He hit me with more shots, but I’m saying a real shot. I don’t what (Rogers was) looking at, but it’s all good. Still got the victory, got eight rounds under my belt. I didn’t even fight my best tonight. I give myself a C-minus. My legs were shaky.”

The bigger Paul won the opening round with ease, landing a few solid shots against Woodley, who only threw six punches. Woodley’s inactivity was an issue throughout the fight. In the second round, Woodley threw only eight punches and Paul, who was patient, found openings, at one point landing a good right hand to the body and a left to the head in combination.

The 24-year-old Paul (4-0, 3 KOs) had another good round in the third, landing a left hook to drive Woodley back, but Woodley closed well with his first solid punch of the fight, a right hand as the round ended.

Woodley had his best round in the fourth, when Paul faced his first ring adversity. Woodley drove him into the ropes and landed a solid left hook and later a stiff jab and a right hand. Paul, who was tiring, grabbed onto the ropes after the hook landed and Nichols would have been well within his rights to rule it a knockdown since the ropes appeared to keep Paul on his feet.

“I hit him. The ropes held him up,” Woodley said. “I landed more power shots. He has heavy hands, but I didn’t hit the ground like his other opponents. I walked him down and I landed back.”

Paul shook it off, however, and was never in any trouble again, although he never had Woodley (0-1), 39, of St. Louis, in serious trouble either.

Paul appeared to gain a second wind in the final few rounds and controlled much of the action with his jab, while Woodley showed little urgency as the rounds ticked by, although he landed some right hands in the final round.

According to CompuBox statistics, Paul landed 71 of 207 punches (34 percent) and Woodley landed 52 of 163 (32 percent).

While Paul has still yet to face a boxer, Woodley was easily his best opponent so far after having knocked out fellow YouTuber Ali Eson Gib in the first round of his pro debut, then former NBA player Nate Robinson in the second round and former MMA fighter Ben Askren in the first round on April 17.

Askren is a friend’s of Woodley’s and they got into at the April fight, leading to their match, Paul’s fourth fight in a row against a foe making his boxing pro debut.

Woodley was irate over the scoring.

“I feel like I won the fight,” Woodley said. “I feel like Jake’s a great opponent. I didn’t expect him to go down. That’s why I came in great shape, because I knew he could take a punch. But the fact that one judge gave me two rounds is laughable. No disrespect, but fuck the (proposed Paul-Tommy) Fury fight. Me and Jake need to run that back. I want an instant rematch. Nobody gonna sell a pay-per-view like we did.”

Paul declined to call anyone out and said he might take a break from boxing.

“I’ve been boxing for 18 months,” Paul said. “I haven’t been to the dentist; I barely got my haircut in like two years. My teeth are all crooked, my nose is crooked. I’ve dedicated my past 18 months to this. I haven’t stopped. I think I might need to chill out for a second, figure out who I am. I’ll get back in the gym when I’m ready and we’ll see.”

Woodley then tried to goad Paul into a rematch while they were still in the ring.

“Of course, he wants a payday,” Paul said.  “You had your opportunity. You had your chance.”

Then Paul reminded Woodley that at a pre-fight news conference they made a bet that the loser had to get a tattoo that said, ‘I love’ the winner’s name.

“If you get the tattoo, ‘I love Jake Paul,’ let’s run it back,” Paul said. “We’ve got the tattoo artist right here.”

Serrano retains belts in landslide

Unified women’s featherweight titlist Amanda Serrano dominated Yamileth Mercado, a reigning junior featherweight world titlist moving up in weight, in a unanimous decision victory.

Serrano, a southpaw, won 99-91, 98-92 and 97-93 in a fight in which she had no issues whatsoever.

“I hope I put on a great performance,” said Serrano, who won her 27th fight in a row since a loss in 2012. “I had a tough Mexican (in front of) me. She’s a champion in her own weight class. Cleveland, I hope I made you proud and happy. I hope I made the sport of women’s boxing proud.”

The bigger Serrano (41-1-1, 30 KOs), 32, a Puerto Rico native fighting out of Brooklyn, New York, was the more aggressive fighter throughout the fight. She consistently backed Mercado up, fired body shots and combinations that put her in control.

Mercado (18-3, 5 KOs), 23, of Mexico, a counter puncher, landed some of those counter shots, but not nearly enough to win many rounds.

Serrano’s body attack was particularly strong as she pounded her to the midsection round after round.

An uppercut seemed to hurt Mercado in the sixth round, but it ended before Serrano had a chance to take advantage. By the ninth round, Mercado had swelling around her left eye and a cut under it.

Despite an obvious big lead, Serrano went for the knockout in the 10th round and rocked Mercado with a right hook. She landed many more hard shots against the fading Mercado, but she made it to the final bell.

According to CompuBox, Serrano landed 160 of 577 punches (28 percent), including 65 body shots. Mercado landed 95 of 302 blows (31 percent). The rounds are two minutes in women’s boxing.

Asked whether she should be regarded as the No. 1 women’s boxer in the world — as many view her — Serrano wouldn’t say.

“I don’t want to say I’m pound-for-pound because there’s great female fighters out there like Claressa Shields,” Serrano said. “She’s a great supporter. As long as I’m in the top with them, I’m good.”

Eventually, Serrano would like to fight undisputed women’s lightweight champion Katie Taylor.

“I want that fight in the future,” Serrano said. “I want the other champions at featherweight to become undisputed champion and then what a great fight it would be, undisputed champion versus undisputed champion.”

Dubois destroys Cusumano

England’s Daniel Dubois, one of boxing’s most promising heavyweights, made his United States debut in explosive fashion, dropping overmatched Joe Cusumano three times in a first-round knockout victory.

“My dad told me in the dressing to go for the first round. I went for it,” Dubois said. “This was just another step in the right direction for me. I went for the kill. The rest is history.”

The 6-foot-5, 238-pound Dubois (17-1, 16 KOs), 23, scored his second win a row since suffering a broken orbital bone in a 10th-round knockout loss to countryman and contender Joe Joyce in November.

“I’m back and I’m ready to go,” Dubois said.

Dubois had no issues with the 6-4, 235½-pound Cusumano (19-4, 17 KOs), 33, of Richmond, Virginia, who landed one decent right hand and nothing else.

The first good right hand Dubois landed dropped Cusumano about a minute into the fight. He was down again moments later from another right hand, barely beating the count. When the fight resumed, Dubois was all over him and floored him for the third time under a hail of punches, causing referee George Nichols to stop it at 2 minutes, 10 seconds.

“Whoever’s next, maybe Trevor Bryan,” said Dubois, who is secondary titlist Bryan’s mandatory challenger. “He’s got a title. I want him next, but whoever. Come one, come all.”

Love knocks out Baranchyk

Junior welterweight Montana Love notched his biggest victory by stopping former world titleholder Ivan Baranchyk in the seventh round of an entertaining fight.

Love (16-0-1, 8 KOs), a 26-year-old southpaw, who was fighting in his hometown and stepping up in competition, knocked Baranchyk down in the final seconds of the seventh round before Baranchyk trainer Pedro Diaz stopped the fight in the corner.

“Cleveland, you always have my back. Hopefully, I gained more fans tonight.” Love said. “It’s an amazing feeling. I want to thank my team. It’s very emotional right now. I’m happy. It’s a dream come true. Every day I’m training and I was thinking about this moment, visualizing this moment. I thank Ivan for giving me this opportunity.”

Baranchyk was fighting for the first time since Oct. 3, 2020, when he got knocked out by Jose Zepeda in the fifth round of an epic rumble that was the clear fight of the year. Both men were knocked down four times apiece and there were knockdowns in every round of the unforgettable slugfest.

Love handed him a second loss in a row in impressive fashion. He was winning 70-62, 69-63 and 69-63 at the time of the stoppage.

In the third round, Baranchyk had Love in trouble when he forced him to the ropes and hurt him with multiple left hands with less than a minute left. Soon after, when referee Lonnie Scott called for a break, Love nailed Baranchyk with a right hand that wobbled him just before the bell.

A left hand from Love in the fourth round hurt Baranchyk, but instead of following up, Love stood to admire his work and let him off the hook.

They showed they were able to hurt each other and did it again in the fifth round, which Love dominated, including landing a left that rocked Baranchyk. But in the final moments of the round, Baranchyk (20-3, 13 KOs), 28, a Belarus native fighting out of Miami, landed a left hand that hurt Love.

Love had a dominating seventh round that concluded with a counter left uppercut that dropped Baranchyk hard. He barely beat the count and the bell rang. Diaz then stopped the fight in the corner.

“We’ve been working on this uppercut the whole time in camp,” said Love, who called out undisputed champion Josh Taylor and secondary titlist Gervonta Davis. “Day in day out working on this shot and we brought it to life.”

Fury shuts out Taylor

In the pay-per-view opener, England’s Tommy Fury, the 22-year-old younger half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, made his United States debut and easily outpointed the much smaller Anthony Taylor, 32, of Alameda, California, in a scheduled four-round fight contracted at 180 pounds.

Fury won 40-36 on all three scorecards after they waltzed through four extremely boring and sloppy rounds.

Fury (7-0, 4 KOs), a reality TV star in the United Kingdom, was on the card because he looms a possible future opponent for headliner Jake Paul, but he did little to enhance his chance of getting that fight with such a sleep-inducing performance against an opponent most expected him to blow away.

Fury, however, wants that fight next.

“Jake Paul should have easy night off that fight, so he’s got no excuses for not taking the fight,” Fury said. “Let’s get it on, Jake Paul. I’ve done my bit. You do your bit and we’ll get it on. I went four rounds with his sparring partner. Jump in the ring. It should be no test at all.”

Taylor (0-2) was one of Paul’s sparring partners. He lost his only previous boxing match in 2017 by split-decision. As an MMA fighter Taylor is 7-5, having won his last five in a row.

“I felt like I stole rounds three and four,” Taylor said. “It could have gone either way. I controlled the middle of the ring and I backed him up. I, of course, feel like there was some bias because everyone wants to see Fury fight Jake Paul. Everyone said he was going to knock me out in the first round, but obviously I gave him trouble. I'm not happy that the scores were unanimous.”

Conwell stops Rubio

In the lone non-televised fight on the card, junior middleweight Charles Conwell, 23, a 2016 U.S. Olympian from Cleveland, knocked out Juan Carlos Rubio in the third round of a scheduled 10-rounder.

Conwell (16-0, 12 KOs) knocked down Rubio (18-1, 9 KOs), 23, of Mexico, who had never before faced a quality opponent, with a right hand in the second round and teed off on him in the third until referee Lonnie Scott intervened at 2 minutes, 49 seconds.

Photos: Amanda Westcott/Showtime