Predictions: Jake Paul vs Tyron Woodley 2

Jake Paul was supposed to be fighting Tommy Fury on Saturday, but instead will be rematching Tyron Woodley, four months after their first bout, once again on Showtime pay-per-view.

Paul (4-0, 3 KO) saw his stoppage streak end with an eight-round decision over UFC veteran Woodley, who was making his pro boxing debut. Will we see a knockout this time around, or another eight rounds?

Paul vs Woodley 2 predictions

Scott Christ (64-22)

If I’m being honest with you, I am currently tired enough of the Jake Paul boxing stuff that a rematch is particularly boring to me. Hey, I don’t hate Jake Paul’s boxing career. I respect that he’s taken it seriously enough that he can beat former UFC guys at a sport they’re not good at — OK, that sounds passive-aggressive, but whatever, let it be. I think I’ve been a lot more fair about The Great YouTube Celebrity Boxing Experiment than some, while also not engaging in ESPN social media account “eyeballs emoji,” “popcorn emoji,” “face with tears of joy emoji” bullshit.

I would say overall I lean toward indifferent, accepting with a shrug that Jake Paul fights are part of my life now, while looking for the good in them and hoping they’re, on some mindless level, fun to watch. But the concrete fact is that this is low-level boxing elevated by the fame of a world class troll. Without a significant break in the cycle of Jake Paul Vidz for Kidz, a rematch with a guy who wasn’t good enough to beat him four months ago in a fight that was not very ~entertaining~ to watch was just not on my holiday wish list. I had some actual interest in Paul vs Tommy Fury, but I have none here.

As for a pick, well, again, Woodley couldn’t beat him four months ago, he’s coming in short notice here, and he stared at a clearly vulnerable Paul doing nothing last time out. I don’t think Jake can knock Tyron out because Tyron is a tough, tough dude who is at least competent defensively, unlike Paul’s other opponents, but I do think he’ll win without argument, though since he is who he is, some people will probably still argue. Paul UD-8

Wil Esco (70-16)

Tyron Woodley lost his first fight against Jake Paul largely because he just didn’t throw enough punches. Aging fighters often run into this issue where they just can’t seem to pull the trigger enough even though their eyes can see what’s in front of them. I have no doubt that Tyron Woodley really wants to win this rematch against Jake Paul, but clearly he’s not the demonstrably better boxer of the two, otherwise things wouldn’t have turned out how they did.

Woodley is coming into this fight as a late substitute so I’m not certain how physically prepared he’ll be, but even if he’s in decent shape I just can’t help but think we’re going to see more of the same. Paul says he’ll be gunning for a knockout, but I just don’t see him being able to pull that off. That leaves me with a Paul decision. Paul UD-8

Patrick L. Stumberg (71-15)

I’d hoped after his berserker assault on Vicente Luque that Tyron Woodley had finally learned to let his hands go, but even the threat of having to tattoo his opponent’s name onto his skin wasn’t sufficient to bring “The Chosen One” out of his shell in August. He should have been credited with a knockdown, sure, but Woodley was largely content to let Paul bank the early rounds and didn’t even put the pedal to the metal when Paul was visibly fading.

If none of that was sufficient to drag Woodley out of first gear, what the hell is?

Paul now has the experience of going eight rounds under his belt, meaning he’s a lot more likely to actually pace himself properly this time. With Woodley disinclined to push the pace in turn, expect a more one-sided sequel. Paul UD-8

And the staff winner is…

Jake Paul (3-0)!