TRADING BLOWS

Tommy Fury Hands Jake Paul First Defeat of His Boxing Career

The long-awaited fight between the internet-era stars was held in Saudi Arabia on Sunday after it was rescheduled twice in 2021 and 2022.

Tommy Fury beat Jake Paul by split decision (74-75, 76-73, 76-73) after a high-intensity, eight round boxing match in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

It was the previously undefeated Paul’s first loss, making his record 6-1. Fury, whose record now stands at 9-0 with four knockouts, was the first professional fighter Paul faced.

“I’ve already won every single way in life,” Paul said following the match. “I made it farther than I ever thought I would, and beyond. This is a humbling experience. I’ll take it on the chin and come back.”

The thrilling match started fast, with Fury landing a series of clean blows throughout the early rounds. But Paul seemed to even things up with a last-minute knockdown in the eighth round—but was ultimately too little, too late.

The match was a uniquely internet-era fight, with Paul, a former Youtube star, facing off against Fury, the reality TV star and younger half-brother of one of the sport’s most successful heavyweight champions of all time.

Even with boxing’s reputation for harboring bad blood between contestants, the undefeated cruiserweights shared a particularly heated acrimony, nearly coming to blows at their recent weigh-in after years of trash talk.

They were originally scheduled to fight in December 2021, but an injury forced Fury out of the ring. Then, in 2022, the English Fury was denied entry into the United States for “undisclosed reasons” just prior to the pair’s rescheduled bout at Madison Square Garden.