There frankly wasn’t much action in Jake Paul’s fight with Ben Askren on Saturday night in Atlanta, but what action there was made an impression.
Paul dropped Askren in the first round and won the fight by somewhat questionable TKO (not that it seemed to bother Askren all that much). Here’s a ringside look at the right hand that put the former MMA champ down:
Askren did beat the count and seemed ready to continue, but referee Bill Stutts gave him a further look because Paul was too eager to rush back into action. When Stutts took a look at Askren coming forward on admittedly still shaky legs, he stopped the fight at 1:59 of the opening round.
When you see it from this angle, it’s not quite as questionable, I think. Askren’s legs were not good. But then his posture and stance were never very good, so, I mean, that might have just been how he planned to “attack.” Who knows? It’s over now anyway.
Does this get stopped there in a championship boxing fight? Probably not. But this was not a championship boxing fight, no matter how deep into the fantasy anyone wants to get.