Legendary boxing trainer Teddy Atlas gave his insights on the upcoming Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley boxing matchup and he doesn’t see it going well for the former UFC welterweight champion.
Speaking with co-host Ken Rideout on the most recent episode of his podcast THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas, the great boxing mind broke down why the fight favors Paul and gave the definitive prediction of the YouTuber ultimately being able to knockout out Woodley.
“He’s going to be the smaller guy, the lighter guy,” Atlas said (h/t MMA Junkie). “So Paul’s the bigger guy. He’s strong. (He) has that advantage and he has the opportunity to throw, which is a decent right hand that he possesses. He’s got the opportunity to throw it and land it because of the style of Woodley and the mistakes of Woodley. (Woodley) stands straight up. He’s predictable. He throws that slow jab. He throws it halfway out. He lets you get close. Paul’s got a good right hand. He’s going to land the right hand. So bad news is, Paul is going to knock him out.”
Atlas continued on to explain why he thinks Paul picked Woodley as his next opponent for a reason and also thinks that the former 170-pound king of the Octagon is just shot as a fighter at 39-years old.
“The way I’m looking at it, he took this fight for a reason,” Atlas said. “He picked this fight for a reason. It’s because he can sell it. It’s because there’s going to be credibility attached to it … He’s fighting a guy who’s going to be tough. He’s fighting a guy who’s a striker, who was a champion, and that’s part of the reason it’s going to sell and part of the reason he picked Woodley because you can attach credibility to this fight saying the guy could win. Woodley’s been a great champion, but Woodley’s 39 years old. He’s lost his last four fights and he’s lost his last two by KO and submission. I’ll say it, and this is not to be disrespectful – I already said the things I needed to say about how much I respect the guy – but he’s shot. He has the look of a shot fighter in MMA and UFC. Now a lot of people are going to say because he’s a professional fighter and a former champion that he’s going to beat Paul. He’s in a bad place mentally. He’s in a bad place physically. He’s not in his best place. Now having said what I said, losing those last four fights, 39 years old, he lost those to real fighters.”
Paul and Woodley will collide this Sunday from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio in an eight-round bout that will be contested in the cruiserweight division. The fight will air live on pay-per-view on Showtime and also be available to order on FITE TV.
FIGHT WEEK —
— #PaulWoodley Sunday LIVE on @showtime PPV.
— Order now — https://t.co/67IsijPXtB@jakepaul @TWooodley pic.twitter.com/AFrI6pGKA6
— SHOWTIME Boxing (@ShowtimeBoxing) August 23, 2021
Fightful has all of your MMA needs covered. Follow us on Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel for exclusive interviews, lists, news updates, and predictions.
