By Dan Ambrose: YouTuber Jake Paul (3-0, 3 KOs) destroyed a badly overweight former MMA fighter Ben Askren (0-1) in the first round in his pro debut on Saturday night in a shockingly bad main event on Triller pay-per-view at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia.
(Photos by Al Bello/Getty Images for Triller)
The much bigger and younger Jake, 24, landed a big hand against the flabby-looking 36-year-old Askren that sent him over on the canvas. The referee then pulled the trigger in lightning fashion, which looked premature.
Immediately, Jake looked like he was in tears as if he’d beaten a talented fighter instead of a guy that looked like he’d trained on donuts, pies, and candy bars for 11 weeks. I’ve never seen Askren look so fat before. He looked like he was carrying around 30 lbs of extra fat around his midsection.
Anyway, now that this mismatch is over, it would be nice to see Jake fight a real boxer instead of the guys that he’s been facing. In Jake’s three pro fights, he’s fought a YouTuber, former NBA player, and now an old and out of shape former MMA fighter.
It’s likely that Jake will continue to fight hand-picked opposition that he knows he can beat because he clearly wouldn’t beat a real boxer with ability. Throw Jake in with a fringe level light heavyweight like Callum Johnson or Badou Jack, he’d be in a world of hurt.
Undercard results:
- Former WBA light-welterweight champion Regis Prograis (26-1, 21 KOs) defeated Ivan Redkach (23-6, 18 KOs) by a six-round technical decision. Prograis hurt Redkach, 34, with a right-hand body shot in the sixth. However, the referee saw it as a low blow and the fight was subsequently halted when Redkach was too hurt to continue. He had to be taken out of the ring on a stretcher, which was surprising. With Redkach unable to continue, the fight went to the scorecards and the judges scored it 60-54, 60-54, and 59-54. Boxing News 24 had it 60-54. It should have been a knockout, though, but the referee blew the call.
- Light heavyweight Joe Fournier (9-0, 9 KOs) stayed unbeaten in stopping a performer named ‘Reykon’ in the second round. Fournier dropped Reykon (0-1) twice in the fight.
- A way past his best-looking 44-year-old former two-time IBF cruiserweight champion Steve USS’ Cunningham (30-9-1, 13 KOs) labored to a poor six-round unanimous decision victory over 41-year-old former UFC champion Frank Mir (0-1). The judges gave Cunningham the nod by the scores 60-54, 60-54, and 58-56. Cunningham dominated the fight, as one would expect given that the 271-lb Mir was making his pro debut inside a boxing ring. It was fortunate for Mir that he was fighting an old Cunnigham because if he were facing the prime version, they would have needed a giant spatula to scoop him up off the canvas. There are no words for how bad both Cunningham and Mir looked tonight.
- Undefeated super middleweight Junior Younan (16-0-1, 10 KOs) beat Jeyson Minda (14-5-1, 8 KOs) by an eight-round unanimous decision. The scores were 78-71, 78-71, and 78-71.
- Welterweight prospect Quinton Randall (8-0, 2 KOs) defeated William “Action” Jackson (13-3-2, 2 KOs) by an eight-round decision.
Preview:
It’s unclear what Jake Paul’s future will be should he lose the fight to Askren. Will Jake stick it out and continue to do boxing events or will he focus on his main source of money-making by focusing on his Youtube celebrity videos.
Jake Paul sees this fight as important
“This is it, the biggest moment of my life,” said Jake Paul in talking about his eight-round boxing match against overweight 36-year-old Askren.
“You’ve all been a part of this journey thus far. It’s been ups and downs, lefts and rights, but tomorrow it comes to the pinnacle.
I’m not good at these videos, but I wanted to talk to you guys before this fight. It’s the biggest fight of my life.
You guys have been there the whole way, so I wanted to let you know that I love you and appreciate you. This fight means everything to me. This one is for Shadow.
“He was a security guard that passed away. He’s going to be here fighting with me through this battle. Tomorrow, we got to war.
“I promise you guys, I promise my friends and I promise my family, I’m going to put on a show and get this knockout.
“Six years ago, I was a landscaping kid in Ohio getting $10 a hour. Now I’m at Mercedes Benz stadium, enjoying massive, massive events.
“I love you guys. This is just the start. Trillerfight.com. Hit the pay-per-view, and you’re going to see a show,” said Jake Paul.
YouTuber Jake Paul takes the most serious test of his short novice pro career when he takes on non-boxer 36-year-old Ben Askren in an eight-round fight in the headliner on Triller Fight Club pay-per-view from the Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA. The event starts at 9:00 p.m.
With Jake picking another non-boxer as his opponent, it could be a real mental blow for him if he loses to the out-of-shape-looking Askren.
The fight is being sold as a boxing event, but it’s an odd one given Askren comes from a wrestling and MMA background, and he’s learning on the job.
His training in boxing consists of his 11-week training camp, which doesn’t guarantee that he’ll be proficient at it when he enters the ring tonight against Jake