Every Saturday evening, fight fans around the world invite their friends and gather around the couch to watch their favorite fighters compete. This past Saturday included a UFC Fight Night featuring a bout between top middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Kelvin Gastelum, a PBC boxing event headlined by a super welterweight fight between Tony Harrison and Bryant Perrella, but these events played second fiddle to a presentation unlike anything that combat sports fans have seen before. Although I’m sure I wasn’t the only one switching channels back and forth from event to event, most eyes and anticipation seemed to be fixed on the 2nd Triller card of the past few months. You may remember Triller as the promotion that put on a fight between 54 year old Mike Tyson and 51 year old Roy Jones Jr. Although it was a departure from a traditional boxing event and both men were far past their prime, everything went pretty smoothly. Fans and media outlets expressed concern of watching a sad knockout of an over the hill legend, but the fight went on without incident.
Without the allure of Tyson and Jones however, the second Triller event was pretty difficult to get through. The main card opened up with a bout between reggeton artist Reykon and millionaire night club owner Joe Fournier. The referee mercifully stopped the fight after the second round in which Reykon was knocked down twice by Fournier. The next fight featured with a bout between more seasoned combatants; former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir and former IBF cruiserweight champion boxer Steve Cunningham. Mir, widely known for his grappling prowess had a great showing despite losing a six round unanimous decision to Cunningham. In the most legitimate boxing match of the evening, Regis Prograis defeated Ivan Redkach by TKO in the 6th round of their super lightweight bout.
Between each of these “fights”, Triller spiraled further into this confusing and cringe-worthy fever dream by adding in a myriad of performances that leaned closer to carnival than athletic competition. A slap fighting contest officiated by professional wrestling fan favorite Ric Flair, nonsensical commentary between a clearly inebriated Oscar DeLaHoya and Snoop Dogg, and awkward locker room interviews filled the painfully long gaps between fights leading up to the main event.
Finally, “Funky” Ben Askren makes his walk to the ring for his professional boxing debut. Although widely regarded as a poor striker, most fans of mixed martial arts had rallied their support behind Askren. As a former mixed martial arts champion of Bellator and One Championship, Olympic wrestling champion, NCAA Division 1 national champion, and multiple-time Dan Hodge trophy winner, Askrens’ resume speaks for itself. Askren fans and Paul detractors alike had high hopes that his experience and toughness would allow him create enough pressure to crumble his inexperienced rival. As Jake Paul makes his walk to the ring, the audience roars with excitement. We had made it. We had pushed past the drawn out performances, we had come out of the delirium and nonsense, the moment that everyone had been waiting for was here. Would Askren be added to the list of meme-able Jake Paul knockouts? Or would he become the peoples’ hero by shutting down the brash young celebrity? As we all know by now, our hopes for an Askren victory were short lived. After poking him with some jabs to the body, Paul knocked Askren out in the first round with a big right hand.
Maybe after the dust has settled, we can take some positives away from this event. The card featured fights of varying lengths, some six rounds, some eight and some ten. Decreasing the number of rounds seems to create more action and keeps a modern audiences attention. Adding in musical acts tested the patience of those who tuned in to watch fights, but could be a huge drawing factor for a younger audience. Boxing hasn’t been tremendously popular amongst teens and young adults over the last decade and presenting boxing in a new package is necessary to keep the sport relevant. Similar to current day UFC events, the build up to this fight was successful in telling a story and engaging the audience through press conferences, media outlet interviews and face offs. Boxing productions have changed very little, if at all since the 1960’s. Most combat sports fans are familiar with more UFC fighters than boxers, largely due to media coverage. Mixed martial arts media outlets do a great job of attracting listeners and subscribers to their many podcasts and YouTube segments. Many fighters even have podcasts of their own to show their character outside of the ring and to give fans a look into their lives. Boxing could be headed in this direction as well. Popular undefeated boxer and WBC interim lightweight champion Ryan Garcia puts out a weekly podcast called Fierce Talk with Ryan Garcia. The aforementioned “Iron” Mike Tyson also has an increasingly successful podcast called Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson. These are all great ways to build the popularity of boxing in the modern world and garner the attention of a younger fan base.
In the aftermath of this event, many are left asking, what’s next for Jake Paul? Some suggested a boxing match between Paul and former welterweight king Tyron Woodley after footage was released of some locker room trash talk between Paul, Woodley and professional boxer J’Leon Love. There’s also been talk of Paul challenging Tommy Fury, the half brother of heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury. With a record of 5-0, Tommy’s just getting started, making him a seemingly fair matchup for Paul. Additionally, Fury starred on dating reality show Love Island, making him the perfect “celebrity” matchup for Paul.
One thing is for sure; the combat sports world is giving Jake Paul exactly what he wants. Although mixed martial artists, journalists and fans have all expressed their disdain for Jake and his antics, everybody is still talking about him. He’s mentioned at least once in all of my favorite MMA podcasts and is constantly making headlines on TMZ and other gossip channels. Jake even took the spotlight during the highly anticipated triple title fight card this weekend at UFC 261. During an exciting light heavyweight bout between Anthony Smith and Jimmy Crute, Paul was sitting front row and got into a verbal altercation with former UFC Heavyweight and Light Heavywieght Champion Daniel Cormier. Cormier allegedly left the commentary desk to confront Paul about some of his comments as the crowd roared with expletive filled chants towards the rising villain.
However, Paul won’t step up to fight anyone as dangerous as Daniel Cormier, and why would he? He’s tripling most popular fighters purses for going in there and knocking out guys who don’t have any real boxing skill. He’s playing the role of the the bad guy and he’s doing it with style. Although Askren suffered an embarrassing knockout, he made more money in one round than he had made in any fight or match of his mixed martial arts and wrestling career. Paul may be the (anti)hero that we needed to bring boxing back into the mainstream and to influence the MMA sphere to pay their athletes a better wage. He’s not going to be a likeable character, he’s not going to fight the best fighters in the world, he probably won’t even fight any remotely skilled fighters. He can, however, lead boxing in a new direction and hopefully bring more lucrative opportunities to real athletes.
Want to become the next big name in boxing? Come get started at the Hudson Valley’s premier boxing and mixed martial arts Academy, Precision Boxing and MMA. Give us a call at (845)392-8495 or click here!
About the Author:
Oliver Swanson is a student at Precision Boxing and MMA, training in boxing, Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He is a lifelong Hudson Valley resident and combat sports fan.
