Paul, the influencer turned prizefighter, had never faced a full-time boxer until the bout with Tommy Fury. It did not go well for him.
Moments into his cruiserweight bout on Sunday, which headlined a heavily-hyped pay-per-view card in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, Jake Paul connected on Tommy Fury with the kind of right hand that usually makes highlight reels.
In October, a similar shot had dropped the retired mixed martial arts star Anderson Silva in his showdown with Paul, who gained fame through YouTube videos before turning to pro boxing. And in December 2021, Paul had landed an overhand right against Tyron Woodley, another aging M.M.A. standout, knocking him unconscious.
But Fury, a 23-year-old pro boxer from England, barely flinched. Instead, he closed out the first round with a series of sharp jabs, followed by a straight right and a left hook just before the bell.
The bout was sold on the premise that it would settle the question of whether Paul, 26, a social media influencer with high-profile wins against a retired basketball player and M.M.A. fighters, could defeat a legitimate boxer. Those opening sequences provided an early clue.
Paul entered Sunday’s contest with a lopsided social media advantage — 22.7 million Instagram followers to Fury’s 4.7 million. But Fury, the half brother of Tyson Fury, the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, had better boxing skills. He deployed a longer, sharper jab, landed the more authoritative power punches and used superior timing to achieve a split-decision win. Two judges scored the bout, 76-73, for Tommy Fury, while a third favored Paul by 75-74.
“Tonight, I made my own legacy,” Fury said in the ring immediately after the fight. “I had the world on me. I had pressure on my shoulders, and I came through.”
Fury improved his record to 9-0, while Paul absorbed his first professional loss.
“This is definitely a humbling experience,” said Paul, now 6-1 with four knockouts. “I’ll take it on the chin.”
