If you’ve been following the news at all lately, it was hard to miss: the boxing match between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury has been all the rage.
On one hand, you have Jake Paul, the famous social media influencer. In the past, his videos tended to be loud and obnoxious, mainly aiming for a teenage audience. As he got older, he started boxing, making for content which appeals to a slightly more mature audience (slightly).
The thing is, Jake didn’t even do a bad job at first. Sure, he took on older fighters with an MMA background (instead of boxing backgrounds), but at least he stood in the ring, took the blows and punched back. After winning six times in a row, he decided to up the ante. It was time to challenge a real boxer. His next fight was to be against Tyson Fury’s half brother, Tommy Fury.
Now, Tommy is no chump. He’s been at it since age twelve, fighting professional from age nineteen onwards. Still, he’s only twenty-three at this point and looking into his opponents, we can’t say Tommy has faced much resistance up until this point in his career. Experts say he might have some promise, but his defence is still lacking at times. For Jake Paul, this is a dream come true. Winning the fight would mean an enormous reputation boost and would get the critics of his back for the near future. Months of waiting and hyping up the fight followed, with Jake throwing out one insult after the other towards Tommy. By the time February 26th came along, I’ll admit I wanted Tommy to win – the insults were becoming a little too much.
Okay, what happened? Well, Jake certainly tried his best, but Tommy held a slight advantage. Mostly Jake was on the offensive, trying to attack much of the time, but Tommy defended well and followed up by counterpunching every time. Soon, Jake was left feeling frustrated, with his attacks rarely getting through and getting countered far too often. It almost seemed like a done deal, but in one of the later rounds Tommy slipped and fell. With the referee counting the slip as a knockdown – winning the round for Jake, suddenly Tommy couldn’t sit back in his seat, as he had done for most rounds, he’d have to go on the offensive. Tommy ended up winning by points, but it was much closer than it should’ve been. During the whole match, it has to be said, both seemed a bit nervous, hampering their abilities. Experts were quick to point out a general lack of skill in both fighters.
Fair enough. But while these experts certainly have a point, the fact is: both made out like bandits – earning millions, while bringing a new audience and more viewership to the sport of boxing. By that measure, this fight was a success. Still, you can feel the unspoken resentment, by everyone who believes skill should be the only gateway to success. They believe it’s simply not fair. And they might be right, but look at it this way: different strategies for different folk. Remember, most are busy doing what everyone else is doing, in hopes of doing it a tiny bit better. Well, if you’re that myopic about your approach, you’ll easily miss other avenues towards success. So let’s keep on the lookout!
Regards
Vincent J. Dancet