Main event - Jake Paul v Tyron Woodley - Cruiserweight (8 x 3min rounds) - Paul wins via split decision
And we have a split decision, wow.
The winner is....'The Problem Child' Jake Paul.
I think they got that one right. Woodley is understandably upset. He landed the most impactful shots of the fight but just wasn't able to find the killer blow, or produce the volume/combinations he needed to sway the judges.
Paul has to be pleased. Showed definite improvement in his biggest test to date and essentially outboxed a dangerous power puncher, albeit one whose best years are clearly behind him.
Woodley takes the mic inside the ring and calls for an immediate rematch, which Paul says he'll grant if Woodley adheres to his pre-fight promise of getting an 'I love Jake Paul' tattoo.
Woodley agrees. I can't imagine boxing fans do. That wasn't pretty.
4:12pm
Waiting on the judges to hand in their scorecards. Paul should take this, but I've seen more egregious robberies.
Round eight
Final round! Woodley needs a knockout to win this, I believe, or a knockdown at the very least. Woodley showing some urgency, comes over the top with some glancing blows. Paul is gassed but Woodley just doesn't seem to have it in him to take advantage. Similar lack of volume to what we saw from him in the Octagon over his final few UFC bouts. Woodley may have taken this round, but it's too little, too late. This one is over, and Paul should take claim a comfortable decision.
Round seven
This fight is still up for grabs, but you'd think Woodley may need a 10-8 among these final two rounds. Paul has slowed noticeably, but he's still keeping Woodley at the end of his jab. Woodley has really lacked in combinations, only really scoring with single shots. Lack of volume costing him here. Heavy right hand for Paul as the round ends, that should secure him another one.
Round six
Woodley ties Paul up against the ropes, lands to the body. Paul doubles up the jab but Woodley is out of the way. Not much action in this one, both guys tiring. Woodley has a flurry as the round closes, not sure it was enough to steal it, though.
Round five
Things have livened up in Cleveland! Heavy uppercut from Woodley lands, follows with the left. He's closing the distance much more effectively now. Another right hand finds its target for Woodley. Paul stings a left hand and yells 'let's go' in Woodley's face, licking his gloves BJ Penn style. I'd give that round to Woodley. 3-2.
Round four
Woodley puts a left on target to open the round. Paul explodes with a right hand, misses the mark. Back to Woodley's body with the jab. Tidy combination lands. Woodley loads up his trademark right hand, Paul staggered! Uppercut, left hand, Paul is feeling these. Most significant shots of the fight so far and the crowd has awoken. Woodley is on the board, that was his round.
Round three
Woodley comes out with more aggression, closes the gap but is stfiled by Paul's clinch. Paul lands a left, using his jab really well, and at different levels. Paul stings Woodley with an uppercut. Just misses with a big over-hand right. Paul fighting with a ton of discipline, and he has all three rounds so far.
Round two
Paul controlling the distance well, Woodley has struggled to find his way inside yet. That's going to be critical to his success against the significantly larger Paul. Paul happy to pump his jab, fighting smartly. Backs up his jab with a left hook. Woodley can only lunge, he really needs to get busier here. Another one in the bag for Paul.
Round one
Here we go! Nothing would surprise me here. Woodley gettong low in his stance, really accentuates his height and reach disadvantage. Woodley controlling the middle early, both men hesitant. Paul finally closes the gap, three-punch combo over the top. Follows with a jab, Woodley counters to the body. Feeling out round comes to an end, I think that's Paul's.
3:36pm
Here come the introductions. Based on those, I think we have a slight edge in Woodley's favour crowd-wise.
3:31pm
Paul's turn now. It's certainly louder inside the venue, although plenty of that is jeering.
Yep, its' a Jake Paul original track. Called it. He's wearing a shirt that's essentially a collage of every Cleveland sports team in existence.
No additional MC accompaniment for Paul. Surprising.
3:28pm
Woodley walks first. Predictably, to one of his own tunes. You know Paul is doing the same.
Shockingly modest entourage for T-Wood, who's accompanied by an unidentified rapper.
3:26pm
The pre-fight hype video is rolling, entrances should be moments away.
3:22pm
We're killing time here, people. Looks as though we'll have a 3:30pm ring walk.
3:12pm
Both of these fighters hail from Cleveland, so it'll be interesting to see who gets the bigger pop from the crowd.
3:06pm
Here we go, team. The main event is imminent.
Co-main event - Amanda Serrano v Yamileth Mercado (10 x 2 rounds) - Serrano wins via unanimous decision
Round 10
Serrano has opened a cut on Mercado's cheek. Finishes with a flourish, landing some of her heavier shots of the bout. This will be a very straightforward decision for the judges.
So Jake Paul is rocking LED lights in his boxing trunks. Is that legal? Either way, I rate it.
Round eight
The stalking continues for Serrano, who is coasting to victory. Pitching a shutout so far.
Round six
Serrano turning up the dial now, increasing her volume against a tiring Mercado, who looks to be showing the effects of that body shot barrage she's withstood.
Round five
Serrano has landed 22 body shots to Mercado's zero. Story of the bout right there. Five in the bag now.
Round three
Serrano has been clinical so far. Mercado hasn't looked out of her depth but she's comfortably lost all four rounds.
Round one
Serrano aggressive from the outset, controlling the middle of the ring. Serrano crisp and tight with her shots, Mercado just struggling a tad with the speed.
2:26pm
The fighters making their way to the ring. Serrano is an electrifying talent, but Mercado is as game as they come. This should deliver.
2:20pm
UFC lightweight great Dustin Poirier is mixing it up in the locker room with Paul and his cohorts.
2:15pm
What shoud be an exciting womens' featherweight world title unification fight up next, then we're into Paul v Woodley.
Daniel Dubois v Joe Cusumano - Heavyweight (10 rounds) - Dubois wins via first-round KO
Round one
Dubois storms out of the gates with a monster right hand to send Cusumano to the canvas. Smelling blood, swarms with more heavy shots and down goes Cusumano again. Up he comes and down he goes for a third time, and the referee waves it off. Utter domination from Dubois.
2:03pm
Dubois is a very promising prospect, the next cab off the British heavyweight rank. Think he should get thrugh this one handily.
1:45pm
Next up is an intriguing heavyweight showdown between Daniel Dubois and Joe Cusumano, then we're into the co-main event, followed - obviously - by Paul v Woodley.
Ivan Baranchyk v Montana Love - Super lightweight (10 rounds) - Love wins via seventh-round TKO
Love leaps into Barnachyk's guard, nails him with a left hand and down goes the Russian right at the end of the seventh round! Baranchyk's corner has seen enough and they throw in the towel. Superb win for Love, who remains undefeated.
Love putting the foot down in the seventh round. Highly entertaining fight right here.
The fifth is the best round yet for Love, who twice staggers Baranchyk, once via a textbook uppercut. The Russian blasts him with a heavy over-hand right of his own as the round comes to an end.
Entertaining fourth round, as Love lands a thunderous left hand that wobbles the Russian. This is close.
Barancyhk rocks Love! Closes on him against the ropes but gets a bit wild chasing the KO, Love manages to circle out of danger for the time being. Big flurry as the third round closes, both men getting their shots in.
Love looking great through the opening two rounds. Baranchyk controlling the ring but Love's superior footwork is opening up plenty of counter opportunites, and he's taking advantage of them.
1:07pm
Elite entrance from Love, who looks like he's stepped straight out of an early 2000s Outkast video.
1pm
Baranhyk looking to get back into the winners circle after his TKO defeat against Jose Zepeda last year. He's the solid favourite in this one.
Tommy Fury v Anthony Taylor - Cruiserwweight (Four rounds) - Fury wins via unanimous decision
Comfortable decision win for Fury but he really needed to score a finish there against such an obviously outmatched opponent if he wanted to secure the next crack against Jake Paul, which is what he's chasing.
Round four
Fury responds to some boos from the crowd with some well overdue aggression, puts together a couple of tidey three-punch combos. Taylor looks exhausted from carrying the much bigger frame of Fury.
Round three
All one-way Fury traffic here so far. The Brit really needs to find a way to put Taylor away if he's to make any legitimate statement.
Taylor living on the end of Fury's jab, is completely out of his depth.
Round one
Fury looking very measured through the opening round and it's already clear he's a class above Taylor, who looks the much smaller fighter.
12:21pm
Yes indeed, Tommy is the younger half brother of heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury, who's well known in the UK courtesy of his appearance on the Love Island reality show.
He's 6-0 to date, taking on 0-1 American Taylor. They're undoubtedly trying to set Fury up for an attention-catching win.
12:10pm
Kia ora, fight fans! Regardless if you love it or hate it, you know you want to see how this bout plays out between ex-UFC banger Woodley and YouTube sensation Jake Paul.
There have been plenty of nasty words exchanged in the lead-up to this one, now let's see how Paul fares in his most genuine test to date.
We're probably a couple of hours away from the main event, at least, but we're going to kick proceedings off with a crusierwight clash between Tommy Fury and Anthony Taylor.
***
Kia ora and welcome to our live coverage of the boxing clash between Youtube star Jake Paul and former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.
The 26-year-old Paul is fresh off the most impressive performance yet of his young professional boxing career, knocking out retired MMA veteran Ben Askren to move to 3-0.
But he'll take a significant step up in quality when he squares off with Woodley, one of the UFC's finest welterweight world champions, who packs a thunderous right hand.
Paul will have a height, weight, and reach advantage over Woodley, 39, who'll be making his debut in the squared circle.
The card also features Tommy Fury - half-brother of world champion heavyweight Tyson Fury - against Anthony Taylor.
We'll bring you main results from the card, scheduled to being approximately 12pm (NZ time), before diving into blow-by-blow action in the main event.
Betting odds:
Jake Paul - $1.47 Tyron Woodley - $2.56
Main card:
Jake Paul v Tyron Woodley
Amanda Serrano v Yamileth Mercado
Ivan Baranchyk v Montana Love
Daniel Dubois v Jose Cusumano
Tommy Fury v Anthony Taylor
Pre-fight banter:
Israel Adesanya picks backs Jake Paul to beat Tyron Woodley
By Stephen Foote
Kiwi UFC world champion Israel Adesanya believes Jake Paul has what it takes to overcome Tyron Woodley in their boxing showdown on Sunday (NZ time).
Youtube and Disney star Paul will square off with the former UFC welterweight champion in the next step of his young professional boxing career, looking to move to 4-0 and continue his undefeated run.
The hard-hitting Woodley is the most significant test yet for Paul. Considered one of the UFC's premier welterweight champions, the American defended his title four times from 2016 to 2018, before parting ways with the promotion earlier this year.
Adesanya was part of the commentary team when Jake Paul scored an emphatic knockout of former NBA veteran Nate Robinson on the undercard of the Mike Tyson v Roy Jones Jr fight in November.
The UFC middleweight champion had a chance to spend some time after the event with the "crazy" Paul, and is confident the 24-year-old has the size and skills to beat 39-year-old Woodley.
Paul will have advantages in height, weight, and reach over Woodley on Sunday.
"Tyron's too small," Adesanya told The MMA Hour last week.
"[Woodley] has a right hand that he looks for and when you have one thing to look for, it's easy to avoid that. Jake's big and he's actually a pretty good boxer.
"If I was going to bet, I'd bet on Jake Paul."
Without his wrestling and leg kicks, Adesanya thinks Woodley will become too one-dimensional and predictable for Paul and says 'The Chosen One's' striking pedigree has been overstated.
'The Last Stylebender' says he saw shades of himself in the ambitious Paul.
"I thought it was a gimmick at first," Adesanya says on his YouTube channel FreeStylebender.
"But when you sit there and talk to him - no cameras or nothing - and you realise, 'oh shit, he's serious'. He sounded like me when I was coming up.
"When he spoke to me about his passion for boxing and what he wanted to do in boxing I was like 'man, he's crazy. And I like it."
While Woodley has a massive advantage in combat sports experience, his UFC career sputtered to a close with four consecutive, lopsided defeats. He hasn't won a fight since 2018.
Adesanya notes Woodley has the edge in power, saying "he only has to touch Jake once in the right spot and Jake is going to sleep", but warns him against overlooking his less decorated opponent.
"You should be fazed by him," he says. "You should go in there and be worried because that will keep you sharp.
"You have to treat him like everyone else. If you treat him like a little kid, you're going to get your ass whooped by a little kid."
Meanwhile, Adesanya awaits a new fight date for his rematch against Aussie Robert Whittaker, after lack of MIQ vouchers scuppered their proposed clash at Madison Square Garden at UFC 268 in November.
