Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury Fight

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Overview

Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury Fight refers to the boxing match between YouTuber and boxer Jake Paul against reality TV personality and boxer Tommy Fury, which took place on February 26th, 2023, in Saudi Arabia after several reschedulings. Fury ultimately won the fight via split decision, marking the first loss in Jake Paul's professional boxing career. Following the end of the match and Paul's defeat, the fight was widely discussed and memed online across social media platforms, as well as some speculating it was purportedly fixed or scripted.

Background

Prior to their February 2023 contest, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury had been scheduled to fight several times over the previous years but the event continued getting delayed due to various circumstances. Their first bout was scheduled for December 18th, 2021, but Fury backed out due to injury, leading to the Jake Paul vs. Tyron Woodley rematch that saw Paul securing a win by knock out in the sixth round.^[1]

Leading up to the fight, Tommy Fury was considered by many to be Paul's toughest opponent to date, as Paul had won his previous six fights against MMA fighters, another YouTuber and a basketball player. Though Fury is undefeated as a boxer, his list of defeated opponents is similarly perceived by many as unimpressive, and Paul was a slight favorite heading into the fight.^[2]

Prior to the match, a purported leak of the match's "script" spread on social media after it was tweeted by MMA fighter Mike Perry,^[3] which suggested the fight was fixed. The script had Jake Paul winning by TKO, but it was largely dismissed, as several elements of the supposed script were impossible to put into action, such as having the crowd "grow restless."^[4]

Developments

The fight took place on February 26th, 2023, and after the eight-round match, Tommy Fury eventually won by split decision. According to the results, he landed more punches on Paul than Paul did on him and appeared to be winning the bout for most of the match, though Paul was able to knock Fury down in the eighth round, which tightened the contest.

The Truth is revealed! Tommy Fury gets the decision win over Jake Paul! 🥊#PaulFury pic.twitter.com/YZIiNqtB8P

— Boxing on BT Sport 🥊 (@BTSportBoxing) February 26, 2023

Afterward, Paul said to the crowd that he disagreed with the judges' decision and claimed that he was sick in training camp and had injured his arm before the fight. He also said, "But I lost. I’m not making excuses. I’m just saying it wasn’t my best performance. I fell flat." Both Fury and Paul have intimated that they are interested in a rematch.

Online Reactions

Following the February 26th, 2023, match, many online expressed happiness that Jake Paul was defeated in the fight.^[5] For example, Twitter user @ayeejuju^[6] joked that Paul was "getting his ass sent back to the Disney channel," gaining over 880 retweets and 16,000 likes in less than 24 hours (shown below, left).

Other users expressed that they were disappointed in the quality of the fight, as a significant amount of time was spent with the two boxers holding each other and not throwing punches (known as "clinching"). Twitter user @diesdasyani^[7] posted an I Know That Feel Bro meme about what the fight looked like, gaining over 1,800 retweets and 16,000 likes in 21 hours (shown below, right).