Who Won the Weekend? NY Fights Sees Through Snoop’s Smoke, Proclaims Triller the Winner

Triller won the weekend in my mind. Come to think of it, though, I need to aim a barb at them. Because I think I got a contact high watching that French Quarter fuckery, that deviants delight, that parade of profanity, and so this column was a day late…but no dollar short. Because our NY Fights crew brings it, as per usual, not pulling a single punch.

Here’s how the NY Fights gang responded when I asked them, hey, peeps, who won the weekend?

“Triller won the weekend! Was it a perfect event? No. Did it intrigue enough consumers to hit the purchase button on their phone or their remote? Yes! If those rumored reports are true, the event was a massive success,” said NYF’s around the curve specialist, Abe Gonzalez. “One of my Twitter followers (see below) made an excellent analogy about the whole Triller movement. He compared it to the WWE attitude era.

“If you look back, that whole era was not received well at first from the wrestling purists around the country, especially in the south. What it eventually did was create this huge run that generated millions of dollars for the WWE and kept them in business. The traditional wrestling shows were still out there for the purists, but the attitude era, that brought in a whole new and different demographic. In the end, you can choose to buy it or pass on it if you like. The price tag of $49.99 gave you fights and entertainment (whether good or bad). Before you knock it, just remind yourself of the $74.99 PPVs that you’ve purchased in the past that just gave you one decent fight–maybe.”

“I know this is terribly cynical, and I probably should just give up the ghost, but to my mind, anyone who did NOT watch the Jake Paul farce is the big winner to me,” said NY Fights contributor David Phillips. “Whether you spent that time considering the meaning of life, or clearing your navel of lint, you made a wise choice.”

“Andrey Fedosov won the weekend,” said ‘Betting Boxing’ columnist Matt Andrzejewski of NY Fights said. “For some reason Fedosov was never able to build off winning the Boxcino heavyweight tournament back in 2015. But brought in as the opponent this weekend on the DAZN show Fedosov scored a career best win against the highly touted Mahammadrasul Majidov. Now Fedosov should finally be able to parlay this effort along on top of his success in the Boxcino tournament into a big fight in the heavyweight division.”

“Big winner of this week was Jake Paul,” said our guy in England, Hamza Ahmed.

“And yes, even on a weekend where James Martin upset Vito Mielincki Jr, Demetrius Andrade gritted through a tough Liam Williams and Bryant Perella impressed mightily sharing a draw with former champion Tony Harrison, I still have to give the nod to Jake Paul. Jake himself didn’t do anything special other than a beautiful right hand which bowled over ex-MMA champion Ben Askren. But the reality is he’s drawing eyes to the sport, both good and bad. It is a sad yet unsurprising indictment on the state of the sport that a You Tuber is easily one of the top five biggest PPV attractions in the sport, actually, in ALL combat sports. And credit to the kid. I can’t knock the hustle at all. He appears to be on a celebrity boxing circuit where he’s bowling over guys with some name value in front of millions watching on Triller. He’s found a niche in the boxing market and him and Triller are exploiting it to the maximum potential. The same people complaining about Jake Paul having success are likely the ones who have paid for sideshows such as Mayweather v McGregor et al. We can’t complain – we fans essentially created this.

“I have no issues as a fan with what he’s doing to be honest and this sport has bigger issues to worry about, such as Spence v Crawford disgracefully refusing to fight each other. Maybe in about 20 years Triller can do an exhibition involving these two, given it seems we are on pace for this fight to never happen whilst they’re in their primes.

“And a note on Triller – I can see what they’re trying to do but they need to find the balance between fight and festival pretty quickly otherwise their ship will sink quick. I was very critical of their overall production and broadcast last week. It was a complete car crash in terms of content, the overall quality of the fights was exceptionally poor and the pacing of the show was an utter disaster. However, it was morbidly fascinating to watch a spectacle that was unlike boxing. Weed, drinking alcohol, semi naked women gyrating on stage, cuss words, screaming, shouting, hollering, F bombs left right centre – I’ve never seen a boxing event like it. They cannot rely on freakshow celebrity fights spliced with 50 concerts and Doja Cat gyrating because boxing fans will tune out quick. Their next show will definitely be an acid test regarding their capability of producing a genuine boxing match. Undisputed lightweight champion Teofimo Lopez defends all the marbles against mandatory challenger George Kambosos in June. It’s a legitimate fight with legitimate prizes at stake. Triller needs to get this right or risk forever being a complete moshpit.”

“Typing this should make my fingertips feel dirty but I’m going to hold off on the cheap cynicism and say I think Jake Paul won the weekend,” said freelancer extraordinaire Peter Carvill. “He keeps getting in the ring and seems to be taking it seriously. Secondly, he brings more casual eyes to the sport and other fighters should be learning a lesson from that. And, lastly, I’ve been under a rock for the last few weeks and the only thing I’ve heard of was Jake Paul winning. If he’s penetrated my Fortress of Solitude, he must be doing some right.”

“Jake Paul won the weekend,” said Vladimir Lik, of RING and NY Fights, “because he headlined a PPV event and delivered a first round knockout. It seems as if those who know who Jake Paul is dislike him and were rooting against him and those who don’t know who he is were hoping he lost because he’s so bad for boxing. Further, according to a few sports books the majority of the action was on his opponent Ben Askren and Jake rocked him with one punch. Jake was coming off a highlight reel knockout of a retired basketball player so naturally he would lose to a professional combat fighter who trains for a living, they figured… but that was not to be and The Jake Paul Phenomenon will continue to live on.  And to those who feel Jake Paul is bad for boxing I’ll channel my inner Roger Mayweather and say YDSAB….but in this case ‘B’ stands for BUSINESS. One more thing… ask your favorite boxer if they would accept a career high payday to act as chief support on the next Jake Paul show.”

“Jake Paul as well as boxing over MMA won the weekend, with the the wins over former MMA champions,” said ex fighter and current Fightnight Live analyst Tommy Rainone, a contributor to NY Fights. “Yes, both MMA fighters were past their primes but so is a 44 year old with four year lay off Steve Cunningham and a novice in Jake Paul. The two sports are apples and oranges but comparisons will always be made and a boxer losing to an MMA fighter would always be a bad look.”

“Ivan Redkach won the weekend for the wrong reasons,” said Ryan O’Hara of RING. “Let’s honor him with a special trophy at the Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Actor.”

“1.34 million buys to watch a You Yuber and a retired MMAer,” said ex fighter Sonya Lamonakis, of USA Boxing when asked to furnish NY Fights a reaction. “It seems the circus 🎪 won. Tony Harrison didn’t look as sharp as usual. Vito Mielnicki took a tough fight and lost. BooBoo showed why he’s at the top, but his next one should be a top five foe. But, that card in New Hampshire was painful. It was a long card with mismatches all over the place. Main event was 29-4 and boxed someone 2-13. The commission should be suspended for allowing that. Big time prospect Otha Jones III took a loss from an opponent he was supposed to beat. Steve Cunningham beat Frank Mir as he should of. So, who won the weekend? Opponents and retirees won the weekend.”

“The sport of boxing won the weekend,” said New England boxing lifer Ted Panagiotis. “As much as the overall Triller show turned my stomach, it can’t be denied that having new eyes on the sport is a very good thing. And, while I cannot count Jake Paul as a real boxer….yet, I commend the fact that he definitely works hard at learning the sport. In addition, ensuring there are a few “real” fights on the show is a good thing for boxing as well. I would like to see Paul take on a real boxer in his next fight though. At only 3-0, I cannot say his opposition is a disgrace or anything, because most novice pros face similar opposition early on, but at some point I’d to see him face a guy with boxing experience. Maybe a 4-3 professional fighter, something of that nature.”

“I enjoyed the Triller show so much,” said matchmaker/publicist Emily Pandelakis, friend of NY Fights. “Could’ve gone with less and more upbeat music, but I so enjoyed the celebrity appearances (Pete Davidson, call me), the commentary was fun (albeit disrespectful at times… Could do without that). I loved the relaxed atmosphere, the slap fight was funny. Just enjoyed the change of pace. I’m looking forward to see what Triller does moving forward (Triller, call me). Jake is not my favorite but he’s undeniably dedicated to this. We will see where he goes but for now I’m looking forward to Triller’s next event. Also Vito M., he’ll come back. I’m sure he learned a lot and folks will still support him.”

“The sport of boxing lost “biggly” with that Triller weed/booze fest… I mean concert… I mean vulgar trash talking session, wait, I mean utterly pathetic and embarassing “boxing” promotion,” said NYC attorney Keith Sullivan.

“Triller won the week,” said PR ace Gayle Falkenthal, so highly regarded by the NY Fights team. “Yes, I went there. Sure, it was a train wreck at times. Perhaps at all times. But life is all about expectations. This was an entertainment and celebrity sighting spectacle wrapped around some boxing. I didn’t expect to see Estrada-Gonzalez 2. I expected a lot of “what the hell did he just say?” and “did you just see that?” while watching with my boxing pals. For $50 there was plenty of music, Snoop Dogg acting up, a legit wicked knockout in the main event, and I laughed my ass off.

The comedy of Snoop and Pete Davidson of SNL were the HIGHlight of the April 17 show for plenty of people.

“What makes this any worse than Tyson biting Holyfield’s ear? Or George Foreman fighting five opponents in one night? Yes, that happened. But there were a whole lotta eyeballs on the event and people talking boxing, with the event trending all over social media. Talk to nearly any professional boxer not named Canelo Alvarez or Tyson Fury and they all want to get in on a Triller card for the visibility and the payday. Who knows whether the long-term financial model is sustainable, or whether it will generate interest in legitimate athletic competition in the ring? Perhaps I’ll change my mind after seeing how the Teofimo Lopez vs George Kambosos title defense is handled. Now that longtime boxing manager Peter Kahn is on board, I’m counting on Peter to do right by us traditional boxing fans. Honorable mention to Andrey Fedosov, a 35-year-old Russian heavyweight who was an 18 to 1 betting underdog against Matchroom Boxing’s Magomedrasul Majidov of Azerbaijan on the Andrade vs Williams undercard. Fedosov dropped Majidov twice in the first round. The first knockdown was a clean, hard straight right to the face. Majidov may have already suffered an ankle injury after the first knockdown, but when he got up and was floored again, his ankle twisted in an unnatural direction and the fight was over. Fedosov hadn’t been in the ring since 2018 but he’s now based out of Hollywood and gets a lot of sparring work in Southern California. If you bet on Fedosov, you won the weekend, too.”

“Who won the weekend? Jake Paul, natch,” said Triller PR man Jerry Milani, natch!