Jake Paul warmed up for his blockbuster rescheduled showdown against Mike Tyson with a bruising knockout victory over Mike Perry.
The so-called ‘Problem Child’ knocked down the extremely durable former UFC favourite turned Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship star three times en route to a thrilling sixth-round stoppage win in a bloody cruiserweight contest in Tampa, Florida on Saturday night.
Paul was rewarded for taking what many deemed as a potentially unnecessary risk in fighting the dangerous Perry on the night that he was originally due to meet Tyson, before that bout was pushed back to November 15 last month after the heavyweight boxing icon suffered an ulcer flare-up during a flight from Miami to Los Angeles.
He produced crushing knockdowns early in both the first and second rounds, inflicting heavy punishment on Perry with a series of powerful punches that left his tough opponent with a bloodied face.
Paul also saw blood pouring from a cut near his left eye as Perry hung in there and repeatedly tried to walk through such big shots and keep applying the pressure, but eventually the former YouTuber got the finish he had been threatening all night after hurting Perry several times in round four.
The end eventually came early in round six, with Perry flattened by another vicious combination from Paul and referee Christopher Young stepping in to wave off the fight despite the tough-as-nails Perry beating the count and getting back to his feet once again.
Paul afterwards insisted that his rescheduled fight with Tyson was finalised for November, insisting again that he has what it takes to beat the now 58-year-old ‘Iron Mike’.
He also called out current UFC light-heavyweight - and former middleweight - champion Alex Pereira for a boxing fight in future, while indicating an openness to rematching Perry in a bare-knuckle contest. Perry, meanwhile, said he was open to a bare-knuckle second fight with Paul or potentially even a future rematch in the MMA octagon.
In Saturday night’s co-main event, Amanda Serrano sent an emphatic message of her own to Katie Taylor ahead of their massive November rematch on the Jake Paul-Mike Tyson undercard with a dominant second-round stoppage of Tampa knockout artist Stevie Morgan.
It was a vicious onslaught from the first bell from the iconic seven-weight world champion, who marked her 50th professional fight with a 31st knockout and first for three years.
It was a powerful return to action for Serrano, whose last fight against Germany’s Nina Meinke in her native Puerto Rico in March was called off just minutes before it was supposed to take place due to an eye injury sustained by the unified featherweight title-holder.
Canada’s Lucas Bahdi produced a strong Knockout of the Year contender against Ashton ‘H20’ Sylve, having been dominated in every round before producing a monster double right hand and left hook combination in the sixth that left Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions’ (MVP) highly-rated and previously undefeated lightweight prospect out cold on the canvas in absolutely brutal fashion.
Corey Marksman earlier excelled in a thrilling lightweight rematch with Florida rival Tony Aguilar.
Vastly experienced ex-WBC middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr outpointed former long-time UFC fighter Uriah Hall to mark his unconvincing comeback after two-and-a-half years out of the ring, with the Mexican subsequently calling out Paul for a meeting next year.
The early three-fight prelim show saw women’s super-middleweight contender Shadasia ‘Sweet Terminator’ Green bounce back from her maiden defeat by Franchon Crews-Dezurn as she shook off a controversial seventh-round knockdown to comfortably outpoint Natasha Spence.
Puerto Rican middleweight prospect Alexis ‘Chop Chop’ Chaparro made it two knockout wins to begin his exciting pro career with a blistering second-round stoppage of Kevin Hill.
The night began with Las Vegas super-bantamweight talent Angel Barrientes outpointing tough journeyman Edwin Rodriguez to make it nine consecutive wins since his shock lone defeat by Travon Lawson back in 2020.
