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Jake Paul obliterates NBA vet Nate Robinson in two rounds

Jake Paul after stopping his first opponent, Ali Eson Gib.
Fighters Network
28
Nov

Jake Paul, the controversial YouTube star and boxing novice, obliterated former NBA player Nate Robinson in the second round of the co-feature of the Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr. heavyweight match on Saturday night at Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Boxing in a scheduled six-round sanctioned professional cruiserweight bout, as opposed to the exhibition status of the main event, Paul (2-0, 2 KO), 23, of Calabasas, California, blew through Robinson (0-1) with ease.

Referee Thomas Taylor was busy in the opening round as he was forced to break numerous clinches. Then Paul broke through when he landed an overhand right that dropped Robinson face first. He beat the count after Taylor gave him ample time. When the fight resumed Paul threw Robinson to the mat before the round ended.

Paul ended the fight in the second round with two more knockdowns, first dropping Robinson with an overhand right and then moments later with another hard right hand that planted him face first as Taylor waved off the fight at 1 minute, 35 seconds. Medical personnel immediately surrounded the 181-pound Robinson.



“He was better than I expected. He was athletic. He originally called me out and I respect him,” Paul said. “It takes a lot of balls to step in the ring and this means a lot to me. I’ve been training my ass off. I’m taking this seriously.”

The 189-pound Paul won his heavily hyped professional debut by first-round knockout of fellow pro debuting YouTube star Ali Eson Gib in January on the Demetrius Andrade-Luke Keeler undercard in Miami, and wanted to continue boxing and took on the challenge of the 36-year-old Robinson, who played in the NBA from 2005 to 2016 and won the Slam Dunk Contest three times – 2006, 2009 and 20010 – despite standing just 5-foot-9.

Jack dominates McKernan

Former super middleweight and light heavyweight world titlist Badou Jack outclassed the inexperienced Blake McKernan, laying a beating on him for all eight rounds en route to a shutout decision in their cruiserweight fight.

All three judges had it 80-72 for Jack, who likely punched his way into a rematch with secondary light heavyweight world titlist Jean Pascal in the first quarter of 2021. Pascal dropped a split decision challenging Pascal last December.

Boxing at a career-heavy 188.9 pounds while McKernan had come down from the 190s to fight at 186.8 pounds, Jack (23-3-3, 13 KOs), 37, of Las Vegas, went right after him from the opening bell and dominated. He lashed McKernan (13-1, 6 KOs), 33, of Sacramento, California, repeatedly with body shots in the opening round and had McKernan backing up. Jack targeted the body throughout the round and when a shot strayed low referee Raul Caiz Sr. warned him. But the body work clearly took its toll.

Jack also landed heavy shots to the head and did as he pleased against McKernan, a U.S. Army veteran, who served in Iraq and had not previously faced a boxer considered even a fringe contender.

McKernan, whose left eye was swollen in the later rounds, took a beating round after round but showed an enormous heart to stay in the fight.

According to CompuBox statistics, Jack landed 203 of 520 punches (39 percent) and McKernan connected with 92 of 471 (20 percent) shots.

The victory was a much-needed one for the Floyd Mayweather-promoted Jack, who came into the fight 0-2-1 in his last three bouts, all for versions of a light heavyweight world title.

He fought to a majority draw challenging Adonis Stevenson for his 175-pound title May 2018; lost a unanimous decision to Marcus Brown for an interim belt in January 2019 in a fight in which Jack suffered a horrendous facial cut; and lost the close call to Pascal.

Ortiz stops Segawa

In the opening bout of the main card, lightweight Jamaine Ortiz (14-0, 8 KOs) knocked out Sulaiman Segawa (13-3-1, 4 KOs) in the seventh round of an all-action bout scheduled for eight.

For the first four rounds, they fought at a very fast pace but Segawa, a southpaw, seemed to wilt a bit in the fourth round as Ortiz, pressing the action, landed several body shots.

Segawa, who was coming off an eight-round draw with Zhora Hamazaryan in January, regained h is form in the fifth round, although an accidental head butt briefly rattled both men.

With about 45 seconds left in the seventh round, Ortiz, 24, of Worcester, Massachusetts, nailed Segawa, 29, a Uganda native fighting out of Silver Spring, Maryland, with a left hand to the liver that dropped Segawa to a knee in agony. He beat the count and tried to stay away from Ortiz, who was all over him. Ortiz pinned him along the ropes, cracked him with a right hand and then a series of lefts hands that he could not escape as referee Ray Corona moved into stop the bout at 2 minutes, 50 seconds.

Vazquez edges Gonzalez in slugfest

In the preliminary fight on the pay-per-view pre-show, featherweights Edward Vazquez and Irvin Gonzalez delivered a back-and-forth slugfest for eight rounds.

In the end, Vazquez (9-0, 1 KO), 25, of Fort Worth, Texas, claimed a split decision, winning 77-75 on two scorecards while Vazquez (14-3, 11 KOs), 24, of Worcester, Massachusetts, got the nod 77-75 on the third scorecard.

They threw punches at close range and at a fast pace from the opening bell. According to CompuBox, Vazquez connected with 177 of 545 shots (32 percent) and Gonzalez landed 130 of 545 punches (24 percent).

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