Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, a ringwalk with a robot – if ever there was a fight where the boxing was second to the spectacle, this was it.
Jake Paul versus Ben Askren, a YouTube star versus a former UFC fighter. A much-hyped circus that, in the end, lasted just one minute and 59 seconds.
“I told y’all I’m a real fighter,” Paul said.
Not that he’d had the greatest of tests beforehand. In a boxing career that now stretches to three professional bouts unbeaten, his previous opponents had been fellow YouTuber Ali Eson Gib and former NBA player Nate Robinson.
Askren – a superb wrestler but not noted for his striking ability in his MMA days – was supposed to pose the first major challenge to Paul’s boxing abilities. But a right-hander flush to the face put paid to that, sending Askren sprawling to the canvas, and although he wobbled back to his feet, the referee would not allow him to continue.
“It’s been four months. I’ve been in training…