By Jim Maltzman: Tyron Woodley (0-1) feels that he did enough to deserve the victory last in losing a questionable eight round split decision last Sunday night against cruiserweight prospect Jake Paul (4-0, 3 KOs) at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
(Photo credit: Amanda Westcott/SHOWTIME)
The way two of the judges scored the fight saved Jake from winding up with a draw, which is arguably how the fight should have been scored.
It’s easy to spot the total physical collapse by Jake from the fourth round on after he gassed out and fighting on fumes from round 4 through 8 against the better-conditioned Woodley.
The referee blew the call in 4th round
There was a clear missed knockdown that the referee George Nichols failed to give Woodley credit for in the fourth round when he nailed Jake with a big right hand that knocked him into and partially through the ropes.
Looking at that missed call, it’s troubling that the referee would fail to see what was so obvious.
Woodley’s right hand nailed Jake with was a monstrous shot that caused him to fall backward on impact.
An alert referee would have seen the fans and the media observed Jake being bowled over by the shot, but this referee missed it. That blown call turned out to be a factor in the fight, unfortunately.
The scores were all over the place by the three judges, which makes it difficult to know what they were thinking.
Jake vs. Woodley judges’ scores:
- 77-75 – Woodley
- 78-74 – Jake
- 77-75 – Jake
One judge had Jake winning the final 4 rounds
Interestingly, the judge, Dana DePaolo, scored the fight 78-74 for Jake in the final four rounds of the contest to arrive at the wide score. There are no words to describe how bad that score is.
Most boxing fans would agree that Woodley won four out of the last five rounds of the fight, but it’s disappointing that one of the judges had Jake winning the final four rounds.
As exhausted as Jake was, what did the judge think that gave him the final four rounds?
It appeared that Woodley, 40, had done enough in the eyes of some fans to have earned a draw or at the very losing a close eight round decision.
Jake says he wants to take a break from boxing
What was equally troubling after the fight was Jake Paul’s post-fight remarks in which he revealed that he was to take a little break from boxing.
Jake is just starting as a 4-fight novice and has yet to fight a real boxer, and he’s already talking about wanting to take a break. It makes you wonder whether Jake has the dedication for the sport.
When a fighter is already talking about taking a break after four fights and hasn’t even fought a true boxer, it suggests they don’t have the dedication for boxing. In that case, Jake shouldn’t be competing.
“I felt like I won that fight, and I landed the power shots,” said Tyron Woodley at the post-fight press conference. “I thought I won. I was surprised at the split decision. I thought the earlier rounds were close,” said Woodley.
“Even when he landed his power shots, I brushed it off and came back. I was in his face, and his back was against the ropes the entire time. I was walking him down. I could have been a little more assertive. I was patient.
“He threw a lot and missed a lot. I knocked him through the ropes, and I was going to try and knock him through the ropes. Look at my face.
“Does it look like I was feeling his power? I don’t have one cut on my face, and I look just as pretty going in as I did going out. I wasn’t touching the canvas. He was the only one that was touching the canvas,” said Woodley.
“My legs felt weird. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with me,” said Jake Paul after the fight.