The YouTuber continued his winning streak in a nascent boxing career, Sunday night, by beating former UFC champion Tyron Woodley with a split-decision(77-75, 75-77, 78-74) in the main event of a boxing card at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Judge Jaime Garayua gave Paul the first, second, third, sixth and seventh rounds. Judge Dana DePaolo had Paul winning the first two rounds and the final four rounds. The lone dissenter, judge Phil Rogers, had Woodley winning the final five rounds.
Woodley is a former UFC welterweight champion with several highlight-reel knockouts on his MMA résumé. Woodley wobbled Paul with a big right hand in the fourth round, but Paul was able to survive that round and beat Woodley over the rest of the 8-round cruiserweight bout.
"I learned a lot tonight," Paul said in his postfight news conference. "First time going back past four minutes. First time in an eight-round fight. ... To be honest, I won convincingly. We're gonna go back to the drawing board. I think I proved a lot tonight and proved a lot of people wrong."
After the fight, Paul and Woodley agreed to a rematch if Woodley gets an "I love Jake Paul" tattoo.
"I didn't hit the ground like his other opponents," Woodley said. "I walked him down and gave it back. Let's run it back."
This was Woodley's pro boxing debut. "I thought I won, to be honest," he said. "I was surprised it was a split decision. I thought it was close. ... My demeanor and my emotion is because I wanted to knock him out. I had a couple big shots I landed, a couple opportunities and I think I had him hurt and I had him tired a couple times and I didn't press him. I should have pressed him a little more."
Paul outlanded Woodley 71-52 in total punches, per CompuBox. But Woodley actually landed more power punches, 41-35. Paul landed more jabs at 36-11. "That was the first time I took a real shot with 10-ounce gloves in four fights," he said. "I ate it; it was a good shot. This is boxing. If you're a mechanic, you're gonna get dirty. But I proved I have a chin."
Paul is now 4-0 as a professional boxer after going eight rounds with Woodley, arguably his biggest challenge as a fighter. Paul has before Sunday's fight, defeated another YouTuber, a retired NBA player and one other UFC fighter.