Jake Paul could be pulling the plug on his own boxing exploits.
Mere hours after notching a split decision over Tyron Woodley in their Showtime pay-per-view event Saturday night at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, the polarizing YouTube celebrity-turned pugilist seemingly announced his retirement from boxing on his Twitter account.
“Updated status: Retired boxer,” reads the tweet.
Whether it is a troll job or a genuine response to what had been the toughest fight of his thus far nascent – and bizarre – boxing “career” is anyone’s guess.
The controversial 24-year-old Ohioan has taken the boxing world by storm ever since he knocked out former NBA dunk champion Nate Robinson last November. Paul followed up with another knock out win last March, over former MMA champion Ben Askren.
Against Woodley, a decorated UFC champion who was making his boxing debut, Paul had a much tougher time. Not only did the fight go the distance (eight rounds), but Woodley managed to land some stiff blows on a noticeably fatigued Paul, one of which was a right hand in the fourth round that sent the influencer sailing into the ropes and that could have been called a knockdown.
Immediately after the bout, in the post-fight interview, Paul hinted that he could step away from the sport for a while.
“I think I might need to need chill out for a second, figure out who I am,” Paul said. “I'm only 24. I'm changing, I'm growing, I'm learning a lot. I'm going through ups and downs. I'm making mistakes, but I'm keeping my head on straight. I'm just going to get back in the gym when I'm ready and we'll see.”
But Paul (4-0, 3 KOs) also seemed to embrace the idea of giving Woodley a rematch – with the caveat that Woodley must first give himself an “I love Jake Paul” tattoo somewhere on his body. Woodley (0-1) seemingly agreed to the terms by shaking hands with Paul.
If a Woodley rematch fails to materialize, however, there is a chance that Paul could possibly face Tommy Fury, the half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and who also appeared on the same card on Saturday night. The Manchester native and reality tv star earned a four-round unanimous decision over MMA fighter Anthony Taylor. Both Paul and Fury have traded barbs over the past few months.
