Ben Askren responded to his emphatic knockout defeat by Jake Paul with a simple two-word tweet.
The former MMA star and ONE and Bellator world welterweight champion was embarrassed on his professional boxing debut in Atlanta on Saturday night, failing to see out even two minutes of the first round at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Askren was firmly dispatched to the canvas with a powerful right hand after having his defences easily breached by a left jab and while he wanted to continue after taking an initial eight count, the referee deemed it unsafe to do so.
Paul’s detractors had said before the fight that Askren would be doing the boxing world a favour by ending his opponent’s undefeated streak amid criticism of such events involving YouTubers and debutants from other sports, with Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach - who worked with ‘Funky’ in the build-up to Saturday’s fight - stating that it would be a “public service”.
However, the bout only served to increase the hype around Paul, who will have taken enormous confidence from his destructive win over a seasoned fighter having only previously beaten a fellow YouTuber in AnEsonGib and ex-basketball player Nate Robinson.
Askren bid a hasty retreat from the ring after his loss that he later bemoaned as embarrassing, and afterwards simply tweeted with a sad face: “Sorry world.”
