Jake Paul won’t make too many excuses after suffering his first career boxing loss, but said he knows he can do better.
Paul (6-1) dropped a split decision to Tommy Fury (9-0) Sunday. The event took place at Diriyah Arena in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, and the main card aired on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
Although he thought he was on the wrong end of the judges’ scorecards, he accepts the loss.
“Good fight, good war,” Paul said at the post-fight news conference. “Tough kid. I didn’t have my best performance. Fair play to Tommy – he won fair and square, and that’s boxing. You’ve got to take it on the chin. But it was some good moments in there. I just really couldn’t get my game plan working. But hey, man, this is what this sport is all about: You win some in glorious fashion, and you lose some. Like I said out there, judge me by my losses because I’ll be back.”
Paul almost mounted a comeback when he dropped Fury in Round 8, but it was only enough to award him the fight in one of the judges’ eyes. He tips his hat to Fury, but attributes the loss more to his lack of performance.
“He was just really well prepared, and I think it was more so a reflection of my own performance vs. him being super outstanding,” Paul said. “I couldn’t get my momentum going like I wanted to, and I just felt kind of flat.
“He was exactly the fighter that I expected him to be. I think his combinations were the thing that were a bit more impressive, but it was a reflection of my own performance and me just not fighting the way I know I can.”
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Jake Paul accepts Tommy Fury loss: ‘He won fair and square, and that’s boxing’