By Matthew Benoliel-
Think about it. An untitled event. Five fights on the card. A sold-out arena. An estimated 1,000,000 Pay Per View buys. The headliner: a motivated but untested YouTube star facing an ex-UFC Champion. An opening act featuring the half-brother of the Heavyweight Champion against the sparring partner of the headliner. And three, more meritable fights featuring up-and-comers and two female world champions. Throw in one MMA turned boxing commentator, alongside seasoned network professionals. It seems that last night’s Showtime card had something for everyone.
The opening bout featured Tommy Fury, who is arguably more well-known for his role on the reality series “Love Island,” than for being the half-brother of Heavyweight Champ Tyson Fury. From a promoter’s standpoint, it is usually a pretty good thing to have a famous last name. Fury took on ex-Bellator fighter Anthony Taylor, a man ten years his senior, with whom Fury enjoyed a five inch height advantage, and a ten-inch reach advantage. Fury’s professional boxing record stood at 6-0 with 4 KOs, while Taylor was 0-1. Taylor did enjoy some success in Bellator after losing his first few fights, but it seemed here like all the advantage would go to Fury, a -1400 favorite. However, Taylor was able to stand his ground, tie-up Fury when he had to, and made it a much closer fight than anyone expected. But what is interesting to note is that Taylor met Jake Paul through social media. By calling out Jake Paul. The two had since become friends, with Jake Paul funding the training camp, as well as the purse for Anthony Taylor.
Jake Paul has also publicly stated his affinity towards Puerto Rican fighters and multi-division title holder Amanda Serrano in particular. The matchup between Serrano and 122-pound champ Yamileh Mercado was exciting and helped shed a positive light on women’s boxing, as well as being one of the biggest stages either lady has fought on so far. With so many other up and coming fighters claiming Puerto Rico as home, there may be opportunity for bigger purses on Paul’s future cards for the likes of Xander Zayas or Edgar Berlanga.
Former IBF Super Lightweight Champion Ivan Baranchyk (20-2) vs. Montana Love (15-0-1) is a respectable match on any card. Love is an up and comer who showed fierce tenacity and skill against a former world champion. The fight ended at the behest of Baranchyk’s corner following a particularly brutal seventh round. Baranchyk and trainer Pedro Diaz are well-known in the Miami boxing scene and it’s more than likely that the team and Jake Paul have crossed paths in the not-so distant path.
Pedro Diaz was also featured in Tyrone Woodley’s corner. Throughout the main event, it became apparent that Woodley could have beaten Paul if he were more active. His tools were sharper all around. But with a guaranteed $500,000 paycheck, and possibly another $500,000 from the PPV buys, along with a possible rematch with the condition that he slap an “I Love Jake Paul” tattoo on his person, perhaps Woodley was thinking about his future. In the end, one judge did favor Woodley, who lost by split decision, giving Woodley enough clout to request the rematch.
At the end of the night, we saw two good fights, the American debut of a talented heavyweight, and a well-paced show without all the extra music and performances of some other recent platforms. While many in the boxing world are debating Paul’s merits as a fighter, and asking, “when is he going to fight a legit boxer in his weight class?” the real question should be, “Is Jake Paul going to be the sport’s next big promoter?”
