Ladies and gents, strap on your spit buckets, because last Friday night in Orlando, we witnessed a tale of two narratives in the ring. In one corner, the internet’s golden boy, Jake Paul, sporting a custom “Problem Child” robe and oozing pre-fight swagger. In the other, journeyman Andre August, a relatively unknown quantity stepped into the lion’s den.
Right out the gate, it became clear Paul was working a jab-heavy strategy, aiming to control the distance and sap August’s confidence. August, surprisingly nimble for his size, responded with jabs of his own but lacked the sting to truly worry Paul. The round progressed like a chess match, neither landing anything truly significant, until… BOOM! With two minutes left, Paul unleashed a picture-perfect right uppercut that landed flush on August’s chin. Lights out! August crashed to the canvas like a felled redwood, and the referee waved it off as Paul celebrated his first knockout in two years.
My god @jakepaul pic.twitter.com/q5b3dpiCmQ
— Logan Paul (@LoganPaul) December 16, 2023
There were some great fights on the undercard of this Jake Paul vs. Andre August fiasco like the WBC Super-Middleweight women’s title fight between Shadasia Green and Franchon Crews-Dezurn. Crews-Dezurn was able to become victorious and win the vacant title against her former training partner.
However, there was a fight on the undercard that is being investigated for fight fixing by U.S. Integrity. For those of you who do not know, U.S. Integrity is a technology-driven sports wagering monitoring company, providing the highest level of protection against betting-related fraud and corruption.
Six-Figure Wagers on Prop Signals Red Flags
On the undercard, there was a fight super welterweight division between the undefeated Yoenis Tellez (7-0) and Livan Navarro (15-2). These two went toe-to-toe early on and in the third round, Tellez landed a thunderous right hand that sent Navarro to the canvas. Looking like that could be all she wrote after Navarro was able to get back to his feet, Tellez wasn’t able to finish the job in that round.
The fight continued back-and-forth with Tellez getting the better of the exchanges until they made it to the 10th round. That is where Tellez landed the kill shot ending Navarro putting him out through the ropes. While this was a fantastic victory for the young Cuban-American there has been speculation that this fight was fixed and is now being investigated by U.S. Integrity.
U.S. Integrity was notified by an operator of suspicious wagering activity in last weekend’s boxing match between Yoenis Tellex and Livan Navarro. According to the operator, a large influx of six-figure wagers began to come in on the Over 5.5 rounds market. It is also believed that one of the bettors who placed a large six-figure wager was one of the corner teams for one of the fighters involved in this fight.
This was the first time that Yoenis Tellez had fought beyond six rounds, winning five of his six previous fights before he even made it to the fourth round. This fight is still under investigation and it remains to be seen if there will be any repercussions if there is a violation.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
