By Matt Lieberman: Jake Paul is already talking about wanting to face former UFC star Conor McGregor following his booming one-punch second-round knockout of NBA star Nate Robinson (0-1) last Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
Paul feels that the fight should have been halted in the first round after he knocked Robinson down with a right hand to the head.
The referee Thomas Taylor appeared to give Robinson a lot of time to get up from the knockdown, and Paul believes that he was given 20 seconds.
What may have thrown the referee off was that Robinson was complaining about being hit to the back of his head. The referee looked indecisive about whether to wave off the knockdown or rule it as legit.
Jake Paul stole the show from Tyson-Jones
What ultimately happened was Robinson being given a lot of time to get back up to continue fighting. Paul is an exceptional talent, and he’s got the kind of ability to uplift the crowds for his shows.
Thankfully, the organizers for the Tyson vs. Jones Jr fight had the foresight to add Jake Paul to the card because that was the only excellent match of the evening.
The 23-year-old YouTube star Jake Paul stole the show from the headliner fight between the two 50+-year-old Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr with his devasting three-knockdown victory over the 36-year-old Robinson.
Indeed, the Tyson vs. Jones Jr fight proved to be anti-climatic with the two old-timers going through the motions for eight rounds, and settling for a draw. The real star in the evening was Jake Paul, who saved the night with his thrilling two-round destruction of the lightning-fast Robinson.
In the second round, Paul landed a chopping right hand that put Robinson down on his face. He was clearly hurt from that shot, but he was able to resume fighting but he lacked in bad shape.
Moments later, Robinson wildly bum-rushed Paul and walked into a monstrous right hand that knocked him unconscious, resulting in him facing face-first on the canvas. Robinson was so hurt that he didn’t brace his fall, and landed flat on the canvas with both arms by his side. The fight was immediately stopped by the referee at 1:35 of round two.
Nate just laid there without moving for a long period. That was a scary knockout, reminiscent of Manny Pacquiao being knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in the 6th round in their fourth fight in December 2012.
Jake not happy with his performance
“I’m happy with my performance, but I could have done better,” Jake Paul said after destroying Nate Robinson. “A few weeks ago, I broke my nose, so I wasn’t able to spar.
“Tonight, I didn’t feel as sharp, but obviously, I could have done better from a pro boxing standpoint. My jab wasn’t landing, but we got the knockout. I give myself a six out of ten.
“And I didn’t anticipate that much holding and wrestling [from Robinson], so I just stayed calm and didn’t exert energy in the clinch. I knew he was going to walk into a shot eventually, so I stayed calm.
“I’m a little upset because I’m not really happy about the first-round knockout. I felt the referee should have stopped it in the first round. He gave him like 15 seconds to get up. But I didn’t expect there to be that much holding and wrestling.
“He was falling in a lot. That’s what made it hard for me to land my combos. I think I came down to his level a little bit. Just yesterday, we were talking about this. Him coming in green and being an amateur, and I literally said that I don’t want to stoop down to his level.
“But that’s a little bit hard when someone is fighting like [amateurishly] and wrestling and coming in with their head. Yeah, I was thinking about that today, ‘I know I’m going to win, but if it goes six rounds, it’s just more experience.’
“So exactly what you said, it feels good to go into the second round. I’ve never gone into the second round. So it’s good to feel that and to test my cardio, which was on point.
“I wasn’t tired at all one bit zero percent, so I could have gone ten rounds if need be. So the experience is good,” said Jake.
Paul fought as well as almost any top fighter would in boxing, given that Robinson was repeatedly rushing him at warp speed, and not giving him any time to set-up his punches.
Robinson was flying at Paul, leaving him only a brief instant to get his shots off before being tied up.
Paul wished the fight had ended in the first round
“100%, I think he [referee] should have stopped it in the first round,” said Paul. “He wasn’t there. He [Robinson] was saying he wanted to continue the fight because of how many people were watching.
“It should have ended in the first round, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been knocked out on the ground for that long. I hope he’s OK, it was a bad knockout, and I don’t want anyone to be hurt.
“I respect Nate. You know, it was a lot of s*** talk leading up to the fight, and a lot of animosity. But I truly respect him, and the reason I took this fight is that legitimately I was a fan. I knew who Nate Robinson was.
“We hyped up the fight and everything, but it takes a lot of balls to get in the ring. How many people can say that they got into the ring, and so it looks bad for him, but he’s a good guy.
“I can tell he’s a family guy, he’s a man of God. And I earned a lot of respect for him, and he was fast and had good defense,” said Jake Paul.
The referee should have arguably stopped the fight in the first round, but the rabbit punch that Jake landed for the first knockdown is likely why he let it continue.
That was clearly an illegal punch that Jake landed, and the referee would have done well to wave it off.
Jake Paul confident McGregor fight will happen
“I think Conor [McGregor] and I will happen for sure,” said Jake Paul. “People laugh at that, but what other fighter is calling him out with this big of a platform. I’m trending all 12 trends on Twitter right now.
“My call out to him has over 10 million views, so it’s been an hour. What other fighters have been calling out McGregor like this? But realistically, it’s not going to happen for another couple of fights,” Jake Paul said of a match between him and McGregor.
“I’m comfortable with that. I want to knock out everyone in his camp first. Dylan Danis is in his corner, and he’s the guy that got punched by Khabib. That’s what he’s known for.
“So I want to take out Dylan Danis first. I want to bring MMA fighters into the boxing ring, that’s my goal, and there’s a long list of other people. KSI wants to fight me still. Austin McBroom wants to fight me.
“Ben Askren wants to fight me. There are more people, and I can’t even remember how many people,” said Paul.
At this point, you’d have to favor Jake over Conor McGregor if that fight happens. They’d have to agree on weight, though, as Jake fights at cruiserweight, and McGregor is more of a middleweight.