Outside Source
Tyron
Woodley isn’t looking at his boxing match against Jake Paul as
a one-off opportunity for a cash grab.
Instead, the former UFC welterweight champion has designs on
pursuing more fights in the Sweet Science after his Aug. 29 matchup
with the YouTube personality.
“I didn’t get into this for a quick payday to get in and get out,”
Woodley said during a press conference in Los Angeles on Tuesday to
promote his fight with Paul. “This is a steppingstone for me. This
is my entry into boxing for sure.”
Woodley will face Paul in the main event of a Showtime Sports card
at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The event will
air via pay-per-view on Showtime beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Paul is 3-0 as a professional boxer, while Woodley will be making
his debut in the sport.
Now 39 years old, Woodley parted ways with the UFC following a
four-bout losing streak. He last appeared in the Octagon at UFC
260, where he was choked out by Vicente
Luque in the opening stanza on March 27.
In preparation for his transition to a new discipline, Woodley has
been doing some training with Floyd
Mayweather, who recently just competed against Jake’s brother,
Logan
Paul, in an exhibition match.
According to Woodley, the sessions with Mayweather will benefit him
beyond his upcoming fight.
“To get an opportunity to work out with Floyd
Mayweather, [only] an idiot would not take advantage of that
situation,” Woodley said. “He showed me stuff not specifically to
defeat Jake but to be a world class boxer in general — techniques,
positions, placements, head positioning, movements. In MMA
sometimes we waste energy, we do a lot of shucking and jiving.
Everything I do, everything I throw is gonna hurt. My feints are
gonna hurt.”
While Woodley admits that he foresees more boxing in his future, it
sounds as though he hasn’t ruled a return to MMA — and he believes
his specialized training will help him down the road.
“I plan to continue to fight in boxing, to be honest. It’s not
gonna hurt me to focus just on striking, focus on my positioning,
my punches, my defense. So when I fight in a mixed martial arts
fight, I go to the fight with more tools and be sharper,” Woodley
said.
For now, though, the former UFC champ isn’t looking to far ahead.
He’s already seen Paul finish training partner Ben Askren.
Woodley knows not to take an opponent lightly.
“…When you think too far beyond the fight that’s in front of you,
that’s when the s—t goes the other direction,” he said. “For me,
this is the biggest fight of my life because it’s the next
fight.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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