In history, combat sports have always been known for older fighters, namely future hall of famers and legends being fed to the young stars. Jake Paul, in just his sixth professional bout as a boxer added another display of that historical fact. On Saturday night Paul defeated MMA legend and future UFC Hall of famer Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva.
6-0 pic.twitter.com/wIB0GuotA1
— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) October 30, 2022
Jake ‘The Problem Child’ Paul (6-0, 4 KOs) known for being a media influencer turned boxer, sealed the win with a knockdown in the 8th and final round to earn a unanimous decision victory over Silva in the main event in the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona broadcasted by Showtime.
Paul, since the beginning of his campaign as a boxer has faced strong criticism for not fighting a true boxer. He tried to book a fight twice last year against Tommy Fury and Hasim Rahman Jr, but both bouts fell apart. Silva (3-2, 2 KOs) stepped up to the challenge, creating buzz around the combat world as Silva was one of the few fighters was believed to be Paul would avoid.
Going into the bout Anderson Silva was riding a hot win in an upset against former WBC Middleweight champion, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Silva brought a strong showing Saturday night, possibly even stealing a few rounds by backing Paul up in the final seconds of the bout with some heavy body shots. But Paul’s size and youth edged the win against the Brazilian who looked spotty in his attacks.
Paul outlanded Silva 83 to 79, according to CompuBox numbers. It was the knockdown from Paul to Silva in round 8 with a counter right hand as well as 30 of Paul’s body shots to Silva’s 13 that got him the victory.
Paul and Silva embraced after the fight with Silva claiming to Paul that no one can critique him anymore. The performance by Paul was an improvement compared to his showing against another former UFC champion, Tyron Woodley. In 2021 a rematch resulted in Jake knocking Woodley out.
After the win, Paul turned his attention to another possible opponent in the future, this time against former UFC Fighter Nate Diaz, who is a free agent following his final fight in a win against former UFC interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson.
Paul also expressed interest in fighting current Undisputed Super Middleweight champion Canelo Álvarez. Of the two names, Diaz is the more realistic option as the seeds for that promotion have already been planted with members of Paul and Diaz’s teams having an altercation backstage after Nate Diaz’s friend and teammate, Chris Avila scored a victory to open the main card.
