Dawn rose as usual over boxing-land this Sunday morning.
The winter birds are singing. The wannabes of the prize-ring are out running on icy roads, on their way to the gym.
The champions and contenders are plotting their New Year fights, Anthony Joshua among them as he throws down the gauntlet to Tyson Fury. Again.
Jake Paul is alive, well and talking through his broken jaw in hospital. Not in the morgue, to the confounding of the prophets of doom.
Friday night in Miami did not kill off the hardest game, nor its ebullient young circus master, as The Problem Child learned to some facial discomfort, albeit no damage to his irrepressible spirit and scarecrow image.Â
David does not slay Goliath in real life. Not even when the cyclops takes a peculiarly long time to focus his atomic right fist on the job in hand.
Jake Paul earned the respect of the boxing world with his never-say-die attitude against Anthony Joshua
You could argue that AJ held back for the first four rounds but Paul went toe-to-toe with him
Boxing should get behind Paul – he can convert a new generation of fans to the sport’s thrills
There are two ways of looking at a sapling of a YouTube graduate lasting six of the scheduled eight rounds against an Olympic and two-time world heavyweight champion. And actually winning at least a couple of them.
One, that the hysteria which assailed the making of such an obvious physical mismatch was justified by the peculiar pattern of a fight which begged the question as to whether Joshua took it easy on Paul at the start so as to add a veneer of authenticity to this celebrity event.
Two, that Paul’s heart and courage, movement and improved skills surprised Joshua so much that they were pretty much level on points half way through the scheduled eight rounds and he was compelled to crank upon his game to avoid sharper embarrassment.
The truth probably sits somewhere inbetween.
Paul deserves respect for not only his original thinking as a very different promoter but also his refusal to give up despite repeatedly going down.
Most of the early trips to the canvas were a consequence of him collapsing under the sheer body weight of Joshua in the clinches, which turned him into a human yo-yo.
But once Joshua uncorked that bazooka right hand the referee’s counts kept coming and there was no getting up from two sledgehammer blows in quick succession.
David is never going to slay Goliath in the modern age but Paul did show irrepressible spirit
But the prophesies of doom for the sport and both combatants proved false. Boxing will continue its renaissance in Britain. Joshua will keep trying to become a three-time world champion, hoping to mow down Tyson Fury en route. Paul will soon devise another night of eccentricity.
In so doing he will convert a new generation to the thrills of prizefighting. Instead of railing against him boxing should work with him. Hand in glove.
Share or comment on this article:
Boxing must get behind Jake Paul’s eccentric ways – he earned respect against Anthony Joshua and is the sport’s hope for attracting new fans, writes JEFF POWELL