Midnight Mania! ‘Disrespecting The Sport Of Boxing’

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Nobody seems that impressed by Jake Paul’s recent knockout win (watch highlights).

At first glance, it should be a solid moment for “The Problem Child.” He flew out of the country, took on a boxer with a better record than his own, and won inside of three minutes. That should be a great night! However, the facade starts to fall apart when Paul’s opponent Ryan Bourland is examined closely: he’s a 35-year-old oil rigger who retired from professional boxing a few years ago.

The bout wasn’t remotely competitive, similar to Paul’s bout a few months ago opposite Andre August (highlights). Paul is effectively padding his record, a time-honored tradition in boxing. However, not everyone appreciates his recent tactics, and the crowd critiquing his choice in opponent includes former UFC champion Michael Bisping, who released a rant on his podcast.

According to “The Count,” Paul is scamming fight fans and making a mockery of boxing by bullying opponents with no chance at victory.

“Jake Paul was always destined to win this fight and you all are the suckers if you paid for this fight.” Bisping said (via MMA News). “Now I know most people didn’t. Unfortunately, his opponent was utter dogs—t and couldn’t make it through one round. ‘How was he able to get it done?’ Oh, he’s just so good. He expected a second round but my god the guy did it round one!

“[Canelo] doesn’t want circus sideshow freakshow fights. He is disrespecting the sport of boxing. He is disrespecting all the people who worked their way up. But more importantly, he’s conning the fans. If Ryan Bourland is your next Uber driver, give him five stars and a good tip. Beating people you know you can beat, that’s called being a bully.”

At one point in 2020, Bisping was in consideration as a possible Paul opponent. The bout never materialized, but since then, the retired Englishman has been highly critical of Paul on several occasions. He’s not alone in his opinions, of course, but there’s clearly no love lost between the two.

Earlier on Monday, Paul seemingly announced his next boxing date as Friday, April 26, 2023. Based on that timeline and how quickly the date has been announced, I wouldn’t expect a significant step up in competition from the recent opponents.

Gotta earn back that $1.5 million somehow.

Insomnia

Satoshi Ishii definitely took the path less traveled. Here’s hoping the 6th dan Judo black belt enjoys retirement!

An amazing unranked Lightweight match up! The Lightweight cup runneth over with talent.

Merab Dvalishvili is accusing One Championship triple champ Anatoly Malykhin of owing him close to 40 grand! One wonders what the bet was …

Manel Kape wants the UFC 301 open shot at Alexandre Pantoja’s title, but missing weight last time hurts his chances badly.

This cage is holding quite a bit of mass!

The promotion for Francis Ngannou vs. Anthony Joshua has been quite cool.

Slips, rips, and KO clips

Over the weekend, ex-UFC Heavyweight Chase Sherman earned his revenge over ex-UFC Middleweight Alex Nicholson, who knocked him out back in 2014.

Chaos in Poland! It was a nice double leg …

That first left hook to the liver hurt real bad!

Random Land

Owl photography.

Midnight Music: Folk, 1971

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.