It meant ‘The Problem Child’ had less than two weeks to find a new opponent, but fortunately, in Woodley he had a willing foe waiting in the wings.
YouTuber Paul, 22, has won all four of his professional fights to date, the latest of which came in September when he and former UFC star Woodley, 39, clashed in Cleveland.
However, despite the split verdict going in favour of Paul, many boxing fans were left questioning the call – and there was even speculation of a pre-fight clause that Woodley was not allowed to ease up on his opponent after he appeared to ease up when in the ascendancy.
‘The Chosen One’ then had to honour a bizarre pre-fight agreement, promising to get a tattoo reading ‘I love Jake Paul’ if he lost. He duly did so in small writing on his middle finger, seemingly boosting his chances of a rematch.
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However, Paul then snubbed a second fight in favour of facing Fury, 24, but a heated build-up between the pair further turned sour when the Englishman pulled out, just days after publicly pleading with the American to go through with the fight.
And despite the short notice, Woodley’s coach Pedro Diaz thinks developments may favour him – and referred to boxing legend Pacquiao’s surprise defeat to Yordenis Ugas as an example.
In August, Ugas had just 11 days preparation time before facing the Philippine after the withdrawal of Errol Spence Jr, but proceeded to take a unanimous points decision. It’s a lesson that Diaz said Paul needed to take heed of.
“Boxing is not predictable. Ugas took the fight against Pacquiao at ten days notice and got the win, it’s the same this time with Woodley, so I think it’s possible he could beat Jake,” he told Betway Insider.
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Diaz did however, praise Paul’s in-ring progress, and thinks he will use different tactics for the bout in Tampa, Florida, that has been billed as a ‘Leave No Doubt’ affair.
“Jake Paul has improved a lot, and I think Jake Paul is going to move a lot more in this fight than the first one because he knows what happened in the first fight when he stood in front of Tyron. Jake’s going to avoid going to war with Tyron.
“Paul is a great warrior who has been improving and developing his boxing skills and has a great team. And Woodley is a great athlete who has a lot of experience and is always in shape and ready, he’s always training, but I’d have liked Tyron to have more notice for this rematch with Paul, to have more time to train.
“Like everyone knows it’s a last minute fight, Paul has had a long full training camp and Woodley has had very little time to prepare, but it’s a more interesting fight than the first one, it’s going to be a great battle.”