Jake Paul has been largely dismissed by the combat sports community following his unanimous decision victory over Mike Tyson in last night's controversial showdown.
The social media star sailed through eight two-minute rounds of pitiful action against a seriously faded version of Mike Tyson to claim his twelfth victory as a self-styled professional boxer.
And while he has always expressed a desire to earn the respect of fight fans, Jake Paul's performance at AT&T Stadium, Texas, appears to have had the opposite effect.
On the contrary, the 27-year-old has been severely condemned for taking on a former world heavyweight champion, who is more than thirty years his senior.
Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images
KSI, Conor McGregor and Terence Crawford react to Jake Paul's victory over Mike Tyson
Much has been made of Netflix's introduction to live boxing and in some ways the event has achieved everything it had hoped for.
Regardless of the fight itself, Paul and Tyson were both able to post astronomical ratings, with approximately 80,000 fans in attendance and millions watching from around the world.
However, the money-making scheme came at the cost of integrity and compassion, as Tyson, at age 58, was at real risk of catastrophic consequences.
So it's perhaps not surprising that there has now been a huge uproar on social media.
YouTuber and Misfits boxer KSI was one of the first to share his thoughts, labeling the fight as “elder abuse” on his Instagram Story.
However, UFC star Conor McGregor had a much more distasteful response, joking that Paul is now targeting Prichard Colon – a boxer who tragically suffered a brain injury in 2015 – as his next opponent, before quickly deleting his post on X.
Four-division world champion Terence Crawford, meanwhile, expressed relief that Tyson left the ring unscathed, while also highlighting that the former heavyweight king only threw 97 punches.
Gervonta Davis, Tony Bellew and Francis Ngannou give their thoughts on Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson
Unsurprisingly, a number of more notable figures in the martial arts world have taken to social media to blast Paul.
For example, lightweight star Gervonta “Tank” Davis labeled the former Disney Channel host a “bozo.”
But former cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew, who was perhaps the most vocal during the build-up, went even further and encouraged fans to stop watching Paul's fights.
Elsewhere on [Jake Paul] man, I'm gonna give him two or three punches.
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