By Ronan P. McEvoy
Tommy Fury defeated Jake Paul by spilt decision in their boxing match on Feb. 26. Fury remains undefeated as his record improves to 9-0 while Paul lost the first fight of his career making his record 6-1.
Fury and Paul had been feuding for months but after multiple canceled bouts, the two finally fought. Right from the start, Fury was applying the pressure on Paul. Fury used his footwork to keep his distance from Paul but used his jab to move in close and set up combinations. Fury was Paul’s first opponent who didn’t stand in front of him the entire time, Fury used his footwork to his advantage to create opportunities.
As the rounds progressed, the fight became very close as Fury was out landing Paul, but Paul was able to set up some counters of his own and push the pace in a few rounds. However, the momentum that Paul was starting to build was quickly deescalated after he lost a point in round five due to pushing down on the back of Fury’s head in a clinch.
“Yeah, I was kind of confused by that,” said Marc Cohen, a senior at UT. “It wasn’t till I saw the replay where it made a lot of sense.”
Fury continued to create momentum for himself as he landed a few combinations and stiff uppercuts that seemed to rattle Paul. But like Paul, Fury lost some of his momentum in round six where he lost a point due to excessive clinching.
In the last round Fury kept the pressure and went toe to toe with Paul before getting knocked down mid-way into the round. While Fury protested the call, it would stand anyway.
“I couldn’t believe he knocked him down,” said senior Chis Palko. “Paul was getting beat the whole fight and I would’ve been so shocked if he was able to finish Fury in the last round.”
While we finally got to see these two square off against one another, most people believe that it won’t be the last time we see it. In the contract of this fight, Paul stated that if he were to lose this fight then he has the option of a rematch. While he hasn’t stated whether or not this will be the official plan, he still has plenty of options on who to fight next.
The most talked about potential opponent of Paul would be British youtuber, rapper, and boxer KSI. KSI last competed in January and knocked out youtuber Faze Temperrr. KSI and Paul have had beef with each other online for the past 5 years and fans have been desperately waiting to see this YouTube boxing super fight.
“I mean that fight just makes the most sense right now,” said senior Tyler Mulhern. “They’ve been chirping for so long now and they started boxing around the same time so it would definitely be interesting to watch.”
As for Fury, he is now a ranked cruiserweight for WBC and goes against other ranked fighters like Chris Billam-Smith or Mateusz Masternak. However, post-fight Fury and his team called out KSI after KSI posted a video online saying he could beat both Fury and Paul. It seems like the next fight for Fury and Paul will either be against each other or against KSI.