If you were left wondering “what did I just watch?” following the much hyped Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren “boxing match” (and I use the term loosely), you’re not alone. The nearly 4 hour spectacle had a little bit of everything last night, very little of which had to do with anything that took place inside the ring.
Putting on a show that would bring a smile to the face of P. T. Barnum himself, Triller Fight Club hosted an event unlike any other on Saturday April 17th. More MTV Video Music Awards than sporting spectacle, the event drew mixed reactions from viewers on social media all night long. Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Doja Cat, and Justin Bieber were just some of the performers who took the stage in between fights on the PPV card.
If you tuned in to see the “show around the show” then you were likely satisfied with your $50 purchase. However, if you were there to watch something vaguely resembling combat sports, then you were probably better off setting $50 on fire and watching an episode of Bum Fights online.
The tone was set right from the get go when the first fight of the evening was between Joe Fournier (a nightclub promoter, who dabbled in boxing) vs. Reykon, who I’m told is a musician of some sort. Reykon landed exactly 0 punches in the bout, and refused to come out after the 2nd round. The “fight” (if you could classify it as that) was so scintillating, that midway through the first round, the production team decided to show Mario Lopez film a video for his social media account with Pete Davidson on his phone instead of the boxers in the ring. Riveting stuff here people.
Then came a deluge of performances which made you wonder who set the budget for this event. Are all these artists, and celebrities on site being paid? If so, who’s footing the bill? The deeper into the night we got, the weirder things became, with the whole event seeming like it was thrown together by some billionaire’s bored nephew who had more money than brains.
There were strange rubber belts presented to winners by TikTok influencers, there was a slap fight officiated by Ric Flair backstage, Saweetie came on stage and didn’t even attempt to lip sync, electing instead to just dance her way through a series of her songs. All the while, Pete Davidson, whose stock went through the roof following this event, was being the voice of reason on the broadcast asking aloud “what is going on here?”, “am I on acid?”, and talking about how he needs to talk to his agent for booking him for the event multiple times.
The panel of commentators couldn’t figure out what vibe they wanted all night long, repeatedly jumping back and forth between trying to actually comment on the action in the ring, and launching their 85th contact high joke about Snoop for the evening. Oscar De La Hoya came on television sounding like Bobby Moynihan’s drunk uncle character from SNL, and proceeded to only refer to the fighters as USSR or USSA before being mercifully shown off set.
In the co-main event between Regis Prograis and Ivan Redkach, Redkach was starting to accumulate some damage as the fight wore on. But instead of throwing in the towel, or taking his lumps, he elected instead to fake an injury and pretend it was a low blow. This caused his wife/girlfriend/mother/unknown female companion to come storming down to the ring and start yelling at Prograis on camera, which was likely going to be the most embarrassing moment of the fight, until Redkach decided to be taken out on a backboard! If you’re going to fake an injury, you might as well go all out, so kudos to Rekach for truly committing to his character. Unfortunately for him, he clearly forgot that the fight was being filmed, as the replays both in the arena and on PPV clearly showed that he 1) wasn’t struck with a low blow, and 2) was barely even struck at all. Not a great look for Ivan in what we have to assume will be one of the last televised fights of his career.
While all this is going on, viewers are being treated to behind the scenes footage of Jake Paul’s locker room, where he’s being contorted into pretzel-like shapes by some sort of Yogi/Kamasutra instructor. Fans are left with more questions than answers at the sight.
Pete Davidson, once again brings some context to the situation telling Jake Paul he thinks Ben Askren is a tool, and telling Ben Askren he hopes he dismantles Paul in the ring. Is he lying to both? Or is telling both of them their own versions of how he really perceives them? Hard to say, but my money would be on the latter.
Which brings us to the main event itself. After what seemed like a 20 hour buildup, it’s finally time for Askren vs. Paul. Askren enters the ring (in the words of one commentator) “with the physique of a bag of milk”, while Paul is escorted by a giant costumed robot for reasons still unknown.
As most have seen by now, Paul would go on to knock out Askren less than 2 minutes into the 1st round, meaning viewers sat through nearly 4 hours worth of unwanted sideshows for a 90 second fight. Which perfectly underscores the entire theme of the evening. Spectacle over substance.
Whether you’re subscribing to the theory that Askren took a dive in exchange for his $500K purse for the evening (many viewers pointed to this exchange between Askren and Lawlor in a UFC fight Askren would ultimately win, and question how one punch from a Youtuber with thicker gloves could knock him senseless) is irrelevant.
The bottom line is if this kind of spectacle is “the future of boxing”, then we may as well stop calling it a sport all together. Sports entertainment? Sure, chalk it up there with the likes of AEW or WWE. But anyone who thinks that what took place in the miniature ring on Saturday is going to revolutionize boxing is out to lunch.
The Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren PPV hit on nearly every wrestling stereotype there is:
-Backstage antics
-Staged confrontations at the weigh ins
-An elaborate storyline between the fighters leading up to the fight
-Ric Flair!
-Commentators stopping just short of saying “By gawd!” in their JR/Jerry “The King” Lawler style play by play
-A heel turn by Davidson, manipulating both fighters into thinking he was rooting for them
-Fake injuries
If you were to show an alien race footage of Wrestlemania and this PPV and ask them which one is fake, I’d venture a guess they’d choose the Jake Paul fights as the one that was scripted entertainment. At least WWE athletes are actual athletes, as opposed to amateurs who look wildly out of place in the ring. Hell, Bad Bunny looked more comfortable in the ring at Wrestlemania than half the fighters on this card.
In the end, Ben Askren was neither the hero we wanted, nor the hero we needed. For everyone who tuned in solely to see Jake Paul get humiliated on live TV, it was Paul who got the last laugh. Again, whether you believe it was fixed or not (#Rigged was trending on Twitter immediately following the fight), Paul played it all perfectly. Find a fighter who has enough name recognition to draw some interest, but also one who has pillows for hands, coming off hip surgery. Limit your downside, and maximize the upside. All while having us pay for the privilege of watching him do it. At the end of the day, whose really the dumb one, Paul or the people who forked out $50 a pop to watch Askren faceplant in the first round?
Time will tell how many more of these glorified celebrity boxing matches will happen, but if the PPV numbers come back as strong as social media impressions would indicate, then buckle up for copycat events every month from here on out. With the success of dog and pony shows like this, and Barstool Sports “Rough n’ Rowdy” series, one thing is clear: if you can drink beer at it, wager on it, and see some fists fly, viewers don’t care how much skill or preparation the fighters inside the ring have. They’ll happily fork over their cold hard cash for a chance to see a viral clip happen live.
And that’s what it really comes down to. Anyone who paid for the event either bought the PPV to support Jake, or to see him get humiliated. There aren’t many inbetweeners thinking “he’s a good kid, hope this is a nice clean fight” that tuned in. But what we really should have done was just watch the 10 second clip on Twitter the next day of Askren going down. It’s hard to fathom anyone who sat through all 4 hours of the spectacle being happy with the use of their time last night. So if we take away anything from this event let it be this:
Save your money next time, watch the replay the next day for free. You’re not missing out on anything of substance, I can guarantee you that.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @dynessports