It wasn’t the fight he initially planned for, but Jake Paul delivered again on Saturday night.
The former YouTuber and Disney Channel star absolutely dominated BKFC star Mike Perry in their bout at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Paul, after coming up with a pair of knockdowns right off the bat, picked up a sixth-round TKO win after he sent Perry stumbling into the corner with a huge jab and a left hook.
“He’s tough as nails,” Paul said in the ring after his win. “I’m sorry it took so long … I just hit too hard, but he took a lot of damage. That’s a W baby, I’m so excited.”
Paul nearly delivered on his promise of an early knockout to get the night started. He delivered a huge blow to Perry’s head not even a minute into the match that sent Perry flying to the ground. Though he bounced right back up, that set the tone and gave Paul the early advantage.
Paul landed a second knockdown right away in the second round, too, after finding a clear lane to Perry’s head. That left Perry dazed even as he stood back up, and a cut over Perry’s eye started bleeding later in the round. Perry struggled to protect his face, and he even threw Paul down to the mat out of frustration just before the second round ended.
Paul looked like he was going to win it in the fourth, after he backed Perry into the corner multiple times without much pushback. Perry managed to survive the round, but he was spent. He was stumbling repeatedly, struggled to guard his face and couldn’t do much of anything. So when Paul delivered a flurry of punches in the sixth round, it was over.
The days leading up to Saturday’s fight were, well, pretty ridiculous. Perry “attacked” a mascot in a deodorant costume, Paul showed up to a news conference wearing a graduation cap making fun of Perry for attending private school and more. Paul came out into the ring dressed as some sort of gladiator while riding in a chariot carried by other gladiators, too, with his older brother and others in his entourage.
But, as far as opponents go, Perry was one of the best that Paul has faced — at least on paper. Perry was an MMA fighter before he took off in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He held a 14-8 record in MMA, where he last fought in 2021, and he’s a perfect 5-0 in the BKFC. He’s still very much in his prime athletic-wise, and he’s closer to a legitimate boxer than others Paul has faced in the past.
Paul entered the night with a 9-1 record with six KOs, though most of his wins came against relative non-boxers and other YouTubers. He won his first six fights before Tommy Fury beat him in Feb. 2023, though he responded with a win over Nate Diaz a few months later. He’s won three times since his loss to Fury, including back-to-back KO wins.
Paul was originally supposed to fight Mike Tyson on Saturday instead, though that was postponed until November after Tyson sustained a health issue on a flight earlier this year. Tyson is 58 years old and hasn’t fought professionally in years, though that scheduled bout at AT&T Stadium is apparently a very real thing.
Paul will now recover and turn his attention to the bout with Tyson in November, something he promoted immediately in the ring and insisted it was going to happen after the win on Saturday night. What comes next for Paul after that fight, regardless of whether it ends up taking place or not, remains to be seen.
Source Agencies
